Harry Potter and the Heir of Gryffindor
by Phoenix61094
Summary: Harry has just found out about the prophecy. He must now prepare himself for the final battle against Voldemort or all will be lost. Independent Harry. Pre HBP.
1. Chapter 1

Harry sighed. It was going to be a long summer. He had just witnessed the death of Sirius, the closest person he had to a parent. It was just not fair and to add to his miseries Albus Dumbledore had just told him about the prophecy. He remembered the wordings clearly, '_The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches ……born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies…and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not…and either must die at the hands of the other for neither can live while the other survives…the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…'_

And now sitting in the back of his Uncle Vernon's car, he remembered the face of Sirius as he went through the veil, the laughter frozen on his face while his _cousin_ Bellatrix Lestrange laughed. And there in the back of his Uncle's car he made a resolution to himself, he may die trying to kill Voldemort but he would make that bitch pay whatever it cost him.

'Boy, get in the house before the neighbors see you,' his uncle barked.

After years of being addressed this way, Harry had no doubt that his uncle was talking to him. He dragged his trunk out of the boot of the car and pulled it all the way to the front door and rang the door bell. His elephantine cousin answered the door, his triple chin wobbling and a sandwich in his left hand.

'Mom, the freak's home,' he announced in a loud voice.

Harry just rolled his eyes towards the ceiling and dragged his trunk up the stairs to his room. Or rather what was called his room. It had just enough space for his bed and a wardrobe full of Dudley's hand-me down clothes. That being the reason Harry had to fold his shirt thrice at the sleeves and had to wear a belt to save his pants from falling down not to mention the three fold-ups in his pants.

He let his snowy white owl Hedwig out of her cage and she soared out into the dazzling bright sky.

Harry then plopped down on his bed and returned to his musings about the prophecy. It referred to him and Voldemort. One of them had to die at the hands of the other in the end. Harry wondered how a wizard who was still in school was supposed to defeat the darkest wizard of all time. And the added problem was that the wizard was a direct descendant of Salazar Slytherin.

'_You will not be alone,' whispered a small voice in his head._

Harry jumped, '_What in the name of Merlin was that.' _He was pretty sure it was not part of his mind.

'_Going barmy are we?' _said the voice.

'_What are you?' _Harry asked, well thought.

He received no reply. He sighed. Maybe he was just tired because of all the stress of the past few days. He closed his eyes and fell asleep almost immediately.

He woke up hours later. The reason – his aunt knocking on his door. Or rather banging.

'Get up boy we will not have you dying of hunger in our house,' she said.

Harry sighed. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately. He rolled out of bed and trudged down the stairs at a snail's pace. He really doubted he could even down one bite of food at the moment. Apparently Dudley's diet had gone out of the window, as he was downing the mashed potatoes in heaps.

'_Just like old times,' _said the dry voice in his head. _'Those were the days.' _ It sounded like an old women reflecting over her life spent happily on a farm with her loving husband. Harry did the only thing he could do, he sniggered along with the voice in his head. His aunt glared at him and he stifled his laughter.

After diner Harry returned to his room. He lay down on his bed and tried to keep his eyes open. He did not want to sleep. His sleep was haunted by nightmares about Sirius. He wondered why he had not had a nightmare while sleeping previously. He shrugged it of. _'Good for me,' _he thought.

His eyes were getting heavier. He tried to fight it but darkness engulfed him. A moment later he was standing in front of the veil through which Sirius had passed only a few days ago. 'It's all your fault,' said an apparition which looked like Sirius. Moments later his parents and Cedric joined in. Chanting over and over again that it was all his fault.

Harry jolted awake drenched in sweat, the tears on his face mingling with his sweat. He groaned and said to the darkness, 'I cant wait to go back to Hogwarts. There at least, his dreams were lesser in number. He sank back down and fell into a disturbed sleep with dreams haunting him.

He woke hours later in the pre dawn light again drenched in sweat and his own tears. He knew that he would not get any more sleep and that it was useless trying. He pulled on some clothes and went down stairs. He got out of the wretched house where he had been tortured the whole of his life. And there glaring at the wretched house that had been his home for fifteen years he made a decision. He would not be intimidated any more. He would play this game according to his own rules, not cowering behind other people while they died. If he was going to fight Voldemort, he needed to be fit, not only magically but also physically. And after making this resolution he started jogging the surrounding area. Everyday.

While jogging, he found himself to have a lot of free time to sort out his thoughts. _'Might as well get started on the occlumency, also,' _thought Harry to himself grimly. He sorted out his emotions and stored them at the back of his head, paying no attention to them. He suddenly found himself floating in a void. No emotions were touching him, it was as if his body was some one else's, as if he was disjointed from it. He was now calm as he had never been before. After an hour Harry felt dimly tired of all his running. He let go of the void and gasped he was so tired. He had a stitch in his side and he was panting. He did not stop but he started walking slowly towards Privet Drive. He knew that if he stopped walking his muscles would seize up and he would be very, very stiff the next day.

Once he reached no.4 he saw that his aunt was cooking breakfast. Today he ate properly. If he wanted to be intimidating he had to look intimidating and he could hardly look intimidating if he was scrawny and had glasses. He also needed a new wardrobe with clothes that actually fit him and he would not have to worry about his pants falling of during a duel and him dying of embarrassment because of that.

Gone would be the scrawny little bespectacled boy. The next year Hogwarts would see a new and improved Harry, a Harry who could not be intimidated, not by Snape and not by anyone.

T.B.C.

_Sorry for the short chapter will make it longer next time._


	2. Chapter 2

Harry spent most of his time at the Dursleys' in his room. He did not want their company and neither did they want his. He spent his time going through his school books looking for new spells. He was making a list of the new spells that he found and had decided to practice them when he got back to Hogwarts. He continued to run around Privet Drive, slowly building up his endurance.

'_Over excited are we,' _said the voice in his head.

'_Shut up,' _Harry said irritably.

His sleep last night had once again been haunted by those cursed nightmares.

'_Ah! A little touchy, are we?' _said the voice in his head.

'_Who or what are you,'_ asked Harry curiously.

'_All in good time my boy,' _said the cursed voice in his head.

Harry snorted and continued going through his text books. He now understood some of Hermione's fascination for books. They really were very interesting and he did not realize the time passing by. He remained in touch with Ron and Hermione, though they seemed tentative at first as though wondering weather Sirius' death had had some effect on his brain.

Harry had happily made his resolution at first, but now he faced many problems. He had thought to get rid of his spectacles, but there was no solution he could find which would be quick, efficient and had no after effects. And the biggest of his problems was **BIG! **He had no money at the moment. The answer was to go to Diagon Alley. Though he wondered if he would be allowed to go or not, considering he had to ask permission from Dumbledore to go. He also had had to get new clothes. All this was easier said than done.

'_Aim for the stars to reach the moon,' _said the snidevoice in his head sniggering.

At times Harry did not blame Hermione and Ron for fearing for his sanity he too had now started doubting it.

'_Oh! Your sane all right boy,' _said the voice.

'_So says a voice in my head, with whom I argue frequently,' _said Harry dryly.

And so his training continued and he also started doing push ups and sit ups. Harry normally collapsed after fifty each. Slowly, though, as his endurance built up he managed to get to a hundred. His training started to show on his physique. His muscles which he had always had due to Quidditch started to show and he shot up in height. Dudley started shooting him jealous glance whenever he saw him the reason being that he attracted the attention of every teenage female in Privet Drive the moment he stepped out of the house. Harry learned to ignore the prying female eyes he felt on him which had made him squirm at first. He wondered at times what had happened to his 'criminal' image which the Dursleys had created to deny the fact that he was 'unnatural'.

Finally hen he got irritated of wearing his cousin's clothes and his cursed specs he wrote a letter to Dumbledore.

_Professor Dumbledore,_

_I know that I am still being watched by members of the order. I know that I can not go any where without being watched. So instead of running away by myself I am requesting you to allow me to go to Diagon Alley. I am pretty sure you must have guessed why. I hope you could arrange something, so that I can make my trip._

_Harry Potter._

Impressed by his writing he sealed the envelope and the letter to Hedwig's leg and sent her on her way out of the window. Satisfied and tired to the bone due to his training he fell on his bed and fell into a slumber disturbed by haunting dreams.

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The next day Harry received a reply from the head master.

_Harry,_

_I understand your need to go to Diagon Alley. I have arranged for you to go there tomorrow though you will have your guard with you and you must promise not to wander of by yourself and land into trouble. You will travel by the Knight Bus and it would be preferable if you could keep your head down and not attract too much attention._

_Albus Dumbledore._

Harry sighed with relief. Finally tomorrow he would be out of this wretched house even though only for a few hours. He hoped his guard included Remus. He would love too see a familiar face and that too of someone who did not worship him, but saw him as a friend. Tomorrow would be one good day. Or so he thought.

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The next dawn found Harry jogging around Privet Drive. He was exerting all of his emotions. His dreams had become less and less troubled as he began to practice the little of occlumency that he knew. He relieved by this as he desperately needed a good nights sleep after all his training.

He reached No.4 and found his aunt cooking breakfast. He took bacon from the pan and shoveled it into his mouth. He was ravenous after his morning exercise. He went up to his room and dressed decently or as decently as he could wearing Dudley's old clothes. He reading while waiting for his guard to pick him up. He finally heard people trudging up the driveway. A moment later the door bell rang. He walked out of his room and saw that his Uncle Vernon had opened the door. And he was having a fit of apoplexy. Harry saw his _whole_ guard standing in the doorway looking out of place in muggle attire. They clearly were as ignorant of muggle clothing as most wizards were. For example Dedalus Diggle was wearing a women's t-shirt and that was not the worst of it.

'Boy! How dare these freaks enter our house?' Harry's red faced uncle barked.

'Do not bark Uncle Vernon, the neighbors may hear you and they are my friends, not freaks,' was Harry's calm reply.

His uncle seemed to struggle with himself and a vein throbbing in his head told Harry that he had gone too far this time. Harry had refused to get intimidated and he would not get intimidated so he just offered his uncle a cool stare till his uncle walked out of the room muttering to himself about freaks and impudent boys. Harry just shrugged it of and turned to his guard. He invited them in, but they seemed to be too busy looking at the new 'him' to listen to him.

'Will all of you stop gaping like pole-axed cows and come inside,' said Harry.

'Woah! Harry you look good,' said Tonks.

'Oh stop! You're making me blush,' said Harry in a dry voice.

A few of them chuckled and all of them came inside and made them selves comfortable. At one Dudley peeped inside to see what the disturbance was and wobbled of with a shrill scream at seeing the number of wizards present in his living room. Harry just chuckled and turned towards Remus.

'So Remus how are we going to Diagon Alley?' Harry asked.

'The Knight Bus. In fact I think we should be going,' said Remus.

'How are you Remus?' Harry asked in a soft voice. 'Have you got over it yet, I mean Sirius' death.'

'I should be asking you that question, Harry,' said Remus. 'And yes I am coping, Sirius would not want us to brood over his death.'

'Come lets leave. We have to be back before dark,' said Remus.

They all left the house and Moody hailed down the Knight Bus. They all got in the bus and Moody started telling the conductor, Stan Shunpike, what he would do to him if anyone in the bus came to know who they were guarding. Turning rather white Stan said that he understood and hurried to the front of the bus from where he shot Moody furtive glances from time to time. One jolting bus ride later, the Knight Bus stopped outside the Leaky Cauldron. Looking rather relieved Stan bid them farewell and said that he hoped that they would travel on the Knight Bus again, his tone clearly indicating that he meant no such thing.

They entered the Leaky Cauldron and the bar-keeper, Tom looked up hopefully but sank back down into his chair when he saw that they were just passing. The Leaky Cauldron was un-naturally empty. People now did not linger any more outside the protection of their houses for long. They went about their work in a hush and not pausing to stare at the shops. People filled Diagon Alley, but not as many as before and they did not stop to greet each other. The tension in the air was palpable.

Harry went straight to Gringotts and went to the head goblin and asked to withdraw some money from his vault. After he had filled his money bag he moved down Diagon Alley buying all his school supplies. He lingered at Ollivanders and thought back. He had read in his Defence text book that it was good to have a spare wand on his body, incase he lost his primary wand in a duel. Making a split-second decision he decided to buy a spare wand. He entered Ollivanders which raised a few eyebrows in his guard but they divided themselves and half went in with Harry while the other half stood outside. A bell tinkled as Harry entered the shop and he was confronted by Ollivander the wand maker.

'Ah Mr. Potter, back already, eh?' he asked in a soft mysterious voice.

'Yes. I need a spare wand,' replied Harry.

'Ah yes, of course. I highly doubted you would lose your wand so fast,' said Ollivander.

He started taking wands of shelves while babbling about remembering his measurements. Again as last time, Harry tried a great number of wands, which seemed to excite Ollivander more and more. Finally he took down one wand and Harry felt a longing to use it.

'Harry Potter, try this,' said Ollivander. 'The core is of a unicorns hair and it is made of elder. An unusual combination but powerful nonetheless.'

Harry tried the wand and the result was the same as five years ago he felt a warmth coursing through his hand and he brought the wand down in a long swooping arc and sparks burst out of the tip of his wand, only this time the sparks were gold and white.

'Interesting. You now have two wands that are brothers to the wands of the two most powerful wizards of today, Albus Dumbledore and Lord Voldemort,' said Ollivander.

Harry's jaw dropped and he was not the only one each and every one of his guard inside the shop were right with him. He felt strange to be in possession of two such powerful wands. Feeling strange Harry paid for his wand, and was bowed out of the shop by Ollivander. At which point there was a loud bang from the entrance to Knockturn Alley and there through a hole in the wall………………

Out marched a dozen hooded and cloaked figures all holding wands in their hands!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

T.B.C.

Ha! A cliffhanger but believe me the next chapter will be worth the wait. Please review.


	3. Chapter 3

Harry looked up in surprise, the nerve of the Death Eaters to attack Diagon Alley in broad daylight.

'Well Professor Dumbledore, guess the promise does not count now, does it?' Harry muttered under his breath and plunged into the midst of the battle that was taking place between his guard and the Death Eaters. The number of Death Eaters was swelling as more and more marched out of the hole in the wall separating Knockturn Alley and Diagon Alley.

Harry immediately realized why Moody was one of the greatest Aurors of all time. Despite his wooden leg he was more than a match for the two Death Eaters he was dueling, curses and hexes flying thickly in the air around them. But Harry had more pressing matters to worry about. A couple of Death Eaters had leapt out of the fray and started hexing and cursing him. Harry spewed curses and jinxes from his mouth, even using a few charms to successfully distract his opponents. All his seeker reflexes came in handy as he dodged and ducked his opponents' curses. And then one of his opponents, a huge man with a barrel chest, made his first mistake. Getting desperate he lunged at Harry, his wand forgotten in his hand. Harry side stepped easily and almost disdainfully stunned him. But he could not bask in his victory for long as his second opponent was still standing and using curses. Harry noticed that all those curses were dark. He also noted that neither this Death Eater nor his pal had used the killing curse on him.

'_Old Voldie probably wants me alive,' _Harry thought grimly.

His duel with his opponent continued for some time as they were both evenly matched. In the end though Harry managed to get him with a well placed stunner. He crumpled too the ground with a shocked look frozen on his face. Harry grimly stepped over his body and engaged another two Death Eaters in a duel. Harry managed to take out one who seemed to have more brawn than brains. The other one was a lot harder. He blocked every curse that Harry managed to throw at him. Harry hardly got time to send back curses as he was busy deflecting everything the Death Eater threw at him. And then when he was deflecting stunner sent by the Death Eater by erecting a shield the Death Eater struck. Harry saw the ploy too late. Up until then the Death Eater had thrown dark curses at him. When the Death Eater threw the stunner Harry had a moment of shock. The ploy worked, using Harry's momentary surprise as a distraction the Death Eater shot the cruciatus curse at him there was no way he could deflect the curse all he could do was watch in horror as the red beam of light shot towards him, which would make him vulnerable to the Death Eater, totally exposed, at the mercy of his torturer……………

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Remus Lupin surged through the over whelming mass of people, stunning Death Eater's who got in his way, pushing past the men who were fighting alongside him. His goal- a fifteen year old boy, son of his best friend, savior of the Light, the Boy-Who-Lived, Harry Potter. He lost sight of the boy, who he considered his son, in the frenzy of the battle.

The boy was the only thing he had to live for. If he died, Remus would die too. The boy was the only thing that kept him from joining James and Sirius. He would never forgive himself if the died on him like that. He really was a lot like his father, James too attracted trouble in his time and would jump headlong into a battle if he had the chance. He continued his search until his eyes fell upon a woman. Her Death Eater mask had been knocked askew in the battle and he saw the face of the women he hated the most and had had ever hated. Because behind the askew mask were the featured of Bellatrix Lestrange, the deranged killer of Sirius Black. A mad hatred took over his brain, all the emotions he had suppressed over the years flowing out of him, he went into a mad frenzy, the wolf in him howling for blood, the human in him agreeing.

There were plenty of other people there who were looking for Harry, they could find him. He did not need to go looking for Harry, he could take care of himself until help arrived.

At that moment there was only one thing Remus wanted to do, or rather the only thing he_ could_ do.

Remus Lupin wanted BLOOD. The blood of Bellatrix Lestrange. With a savage cry he leapt at her……………….

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Alastor Moody ran through the crowd searching for the wretched boy. The boy who ran headlong into a battle, without consulting his guard, the boy who happened to be the most powerful wizard on earth alive. More powerful than Dumbledore. Even Moody had trouble grasping that, but Dumbledore had said it with complete conviction to the members of the Order of the Phoenix. Objections had been raised but Dumbledore had been firm. Harry Potter was the strongest wizard alive and he would be the leader of the Light side in the future. Remus and Alastor had been given the responsibility of being in charge of the boys guard.

Moody's musings were cut short as he was surrounded by four Death Eaters who leapt out of no where and started attacking him with desperation caused by the fact that he was one of their most formidable enemies. Moody moved with a grace that belied his misshapen figure. And started battling with them. Moody was an excellent ex-Auror but battling four Death Eaters was not easy, even for him. He battled, sweating profusely and deflecting curses from all sides, driven only by determination. He managed to take out one of his opponent. The Death Eater managed to hit him with a cruciatus curse on his leg. Only to find Moody with no reaction whatsoever. The reason – the Death Eater had hit him on his left leg in which Moody had no feeling, thus the curse had no effect on him. The Death Eater's shock was his downfall. Moody managed to stun him and he fell, the shock etched on his frozen face.

Moody had no time for respite as his other opponents were still throwing dark curse upon dark curse at him. He managed to take out two more of his opponents, in a very simple manner. He ducked. The Death Eaters in front and behind him shot two Avada Kedavra curses at him and when he ducked the curse's sailed over his head and hit the other Death Eaters squarely in the chest. Their shock was frozen on their dead faces as they crumpled to the ground.

Then Moody turned to his last opponent. He was staring at Moody in shock, for Moody had overcome three Death Eaters while defending himself. Moody used the Death Eaters shock to his own advantage. He easily took him out of the game by a well placed stunner. The stunner hit him before he had time to react and he crumpled to the ground.

Not believing his luck Moody stepped over the Death Eaters motionless body and continued his search for the Boy-Who-Lived.

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Tonks moved through the crowd searching for the she was supposed to be guarding, and to think that they had been shopping less than half an hour ago. The battle was raging on all sides. Tonks wondered what was taking the Aurors so long to arrive at the scene. They probably were not even aware of the battle taking place in Diagon Alley. She ducked and dodged curses that were flying left right and centre.

She needed some kind of vantage point, from where she could see the whole battle and hopefully see Harry, before he was captured. She climbed onto the roof (after falling a few times) and surveyed the scene around her. She could not see a sign of the boy. A sound behind her made her turn sharply.

And there behind her, trying to creep up on her, were two Death Eaters, their masks askew and their robes crumpled. There was blood on their faces, pouring out of their mouths, their wands held almost negligently in their hands.

They started cursing her, while she ducked or dodged the hail of oncoming curses. Soon she realized that she could not dodge forever. She was pinned right against the edge of the roof and one more step would send her falling to the earth, which seemed far away.

'Well, chickadee trapped are we?' asked one of the Death Eater.

'Lets kill her,' said the other Death Eater.

'Oh I think I can find a better use for her,' said the first Death Eater suggestively.

Tonks' hand was creeping towards her wand, while the Death Eaters were arguing about what to do with her. She brought it out like lightning and hexed the two Death Eaters.

'Looks like the chickadee is too tough for you,' Tonks told their still bodies which seemed to have every thing from boils to tentacles.

She continued her search for Harry from her vantage point. From there she could see the whole of Diagon Alley, but she could not see Harry bloody Potter, who might be killing himself at the moment. She saw Moody stumping through the crowd occasionally having to duel a Death Eater, but stumping through the crowd in search of the boy who was their responsibility.

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Kingsley Shacklebolt moved through the crowd of dueling people in search of Harry. Kingsley knew that Harry was the hope of the Light and all would be lost if he was captured by the Death Eaters. Kingsley knew that somehow Voldemort had come to know about Harry's trip to Diagon Alley. There was only one way he could have known about the trip- a spy in the Order. The very thought chilled Kingsley to the bone. There had always been the possibility of a spy in the Order, but having doubts cemented in this way was chilling. He mentally shook himself, it was not the time to be afraid, he had a job at hand. He had to find Harry even if it cost him his life.

A Death Eater stepped out of the fray and confronted him. His mask was missing and he had a broken nose. The figure was horribly familiar to him. They had grown up together. The figure was that of his brother, Andrew.

'Why, hello there brother,' he said in a falsely sweet tone.

'Andrew,' Kingsley said coldly.

'You chose the wrong side, brother, we will be victorious in the end. I am sorry but you must now die, brother,' he said all traces of false cheerfulness gone.

'So be it,' said Kingsley coldly.

And they started dueling. They were pretty evenly matched, each of them dodging the others curse, and having the added problem of dodging stray curses. Finally Kingsley got the upper hand, when Andrew tripped over a stray body and fell to the ground outside Ollivanders. Kingsley pointed his wand at his brother, the person he had been closest to as a child.

'Why? Why did you do it, Andrew? You turned against us and went to join that….. that bastard,' Kingsley said, his deep voice thick in anguish.

'Have mercy on me,' cried his brother.

'No Andrew, you killed our parents, you must have killed others. You must die,' said Kingsley coldly. 'You must die for our parents, for the dozens of families you tore apart, I will kill you.'

And he whispered the fatal words, which every man feared hearing.

'Avada Kedavra,' said Kingsley his voice soft, soft like snow, cold as snow.

His brother could only watch in horror as the green jet of light shot towards him and hit him squarely in the chest. His glazed eyes looked up at Kingsley in horror.

Kingsley just looked at his body for a moment, and then turned away. There was a saying amongst the Aurors, _'Death is lighter than a feather, duty heavier than a mountain'_. He had never understood what it meant, now he did. He did not have time to grieve for his misled brother, he had a job to complete. He walked hurriedly through the fray, searching for Harry, sidestepping stray curses as he walked.

He was once again confronted by a Death Eater this time one he did not recognize. He tried to bring up his wand, but the Death Eater was too quick for him. The Death Eater whipped out his wand in one fluid motion and disarmed the heart-broken Auror easily, cackling evilly the Death Eater pointed his wand at Kingsley's chest.

'Avada Kedavra,' the Death Eater shouted.

Kingsley could only watch as, from point blank range the jet of green light shot out of the tip of the Death Eaters wand and headed towards him and struck him in the chest. Kingsley crumpled to the street beneath him, his glazed eyes still wide open as they stared up at the sky.

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Mundungus Fletcher sneaked through the crowd in Diagon Alley looking for the boy. He would have run away or gone to hide when the battle started, the only problem was that he and all the other guards of Harry's guard had promised to protect him with their lives. He had made the promise to Dumbledore.

Mundungus Fletcher had his faults, but even he knew what a promise was. And the promise was made to Dumbledore. Mundungus would do anything for Dumbledore, as long as it did not involve giving up his 'business', though Dumbledore would not ask him to that, as his contacts were very important to the Order.

He managed to avoid any confrontations with Death Eaters by keeping low and staying near the wall. One more positive point about being what he was- he had learned to sneak very well, after all sneaking was necessary to avoid the authorities while 'trading'.

'Where is the cursed boy?' he asked no one in particular.

He sighed and continued his search.

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Harry watched in horror as the jet of red light shot towards his chest and struck him squarely over the heart. He waited for the pain. And he felt excruciating………. nothing? He remained unharmed. His would be torturers jaw dropped and using this moment of confusion to his advantage, Harry stunned and bound the Death Eater.

'How in the name of Merlin is that possible?' Harry asked the air around him.

'_I told you that you would not be alone,' _said the annoying voice in his head.

'_I wondered where you had gone. And who's with me by the way?'_ Harry said in his mind.

'_I am, you idiot,'_ said the voice.

'_A voice in my head?'_ Harry asked incredulously.

'_I am much more than a voice, boy,'_ said the infuriating voice.

'_Who are you?'_ asked Harry.

'_A_ _voice in your head,'_ the voice said.

Harry was left speechless, at which point a Death Eater thought it was the right time to attack Harry. He hit Harry with a spell that made him spew blood. The spell was meant to kill by loss of blood, but after spewing a mouthful, the effects of the curse vanished. Harry now irritated at the voice and the Death Eater, instead of stunning him, used a variety of jinxes on the Death Eater. After Harry was finished he could not make out weather the Death Eater was human or not.

Then finally, after what seemed an eternity, the ministry Aurors started apparating into Diagon Alley. Now, the Death Eaters were outnumbered, so they started apparating out of Diagon Alley.

Now Harry, irritated by the late arrival of the Aurors went in search of his friends.

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Whew! That was tough to write. Please, please review, should I continue the story or abandon it???????? Hope you like it. Review please, there are like 300 hits and only 5 reviews. I am begging you to review not asking begging.


	4. Chapter 4

Harry trudged through the milling mass of people in search of his guard. He annoyed at everything in general, and at the voice in his head in particular. He finally came across Tonks who seemed to be searching for him. Harry called to her and her eyes swept over to him in obvious relief.

'Thank Merlin, you're all right, Harry,' she said the relief evident in her voice, 'I've been searching for you since the beginning of the battle.'

'We, we have been searching for you since the beginning of the battle,' said Moody, accompanied by the usual clunking of his false leg. 'I should report this to Molly, she wont let you live.'

His voice had in it some uncharacteristic humor.

'And you've gone and hurt yourself now,' he grunted.

He indicated the blood dripping of Harry's chin, which was falling onto his shirt, and creating a gruesome pool of red on the shirt.

'A mere wound,' Harry said in a mock regal tone. 'Warriors do not get hurt so easily.'

Harry spoiled the image by chuckling along with Moody and Tonks.

Their mood having been lightened, they went in search of their friends. They found Remus first. Two Aurors were holding him in their grasp, while he wore a satisfied grin on his face, looking quite deranged. He was staring at something on the ground happily and he cheerfully waved them over. Harry realized what he was staring at, and he felt a reckless sense of happiness at the sight. For there lying on the ground in front of Remus was the bloodied and gruesome dead body of Bellatrix Lestrange, the deranged killer of Sirius. Harry thought of the body as 'gruesome' because of the way she had died. She had literally been torn limb from limb by Remus. Apparently he had not wanted to give Bellatrix an easy death by using the killing curse on her. With the help of his wand he had torn her limbs of her torso and then left her to bleed to death.

Harry felt a pang of jealousy, as he was not the one to have killed Bellatrix, but he quickly suppressed the jealousy as he thought that Remus was perhaps the one who deserved to kill her.

'I will not say that I am not jealous Remus, but now you have to leave Pettigrew to me,' said Harry with a broad grin on his face.

'Deal,' said Remus, clearly glad that Harry was not angry with him.

The Aurors holding Remus took out a pair of magical handcuffs and slapped them onto Remus' wrists and then started to lead him away.

'Excuse me, where are you leading him?' Harry asked.

'To St. Mungos', the man is quite clearly deranged,' said one pompous looking Auror.

'I was supposedly deranged last year, take me too,' said Harry calmly.

'Y-Yo-You?' the Auror stuttered, all traces of pompousness gone now.

'Me. Take me or leave him,' replied Harry impatiently.

'I'll leave him, I'm not stupid enough to arrest you, I love my job very much, thank you,' said the Auror who had deflated like a pricked balloon, when Harry had told him to release Remus.

The Auror released Remus, who still wore a goofy grin on his face. Harry embraced the man who was his fathers' only true friend, who was alive, the man he considered his uncle. Remus returned Harry's hug, by one of his own. The smile was wiped of his face, when he saw the blood on Harry's chin and shirt.

'Who did that to you?' he demanded.

'Don't worry Remus, the Death Eater is indistinguishable from a wild animal. I dealt with him,' Harry said, grinning.

'You really are James' son,' Remus said, laughing.

Harry was pushed roughly out of the way by raging Tonks.

'Who did that to you?' she demanded, gripping Remus by the collar, pointing at the deep gash across his chest and forehead

Remus winced slightly and pointed at the mangled mass of flesh and bone which had once been the body of Bellatrix Lestrange. Tonks seemed to relax slightly, but she did not let go of Remus' collar.

'Do you know how worried I was?' she demanded of him glaring at him at the same time.

Remus winced again and tried to pry of her hands from his collar. Harry knew that Tonks liked Remus, as in _liked Remus_. Harry also knew that Remus returned her feelings, but wanted her to find someone better for herself. Harry knew that Remus would start the blasphemy about having his problem and being to old for her, and Harry was not disappointed. Remus opened his mouth to start his nonsense, but Harry cut across him.

'Cut the crap Remus, I know that you love and she loves you and there is nothing you can do about that. So you might as well accept her, anyways, it's about time something went the way you wanted it to,' said Harry firmly.

Remus opened his mouth to answer with a clever retort, but none seemed to come to him so settled by closing his mouth, pulling Tonks towards him, picking her up and kissing her full on the lips. Harry grinned in relief and amusement, as the two of them parted. Tonks leaned on Remus' chest for support, slightly breathless after the long kiss.

'Sorry for being so forward,' said Remus, grinning in relief.

'It's…..It's okay,' said Tonks said breathlessly.

Remus put his hand around her waist, the goofy grin back in place, only it did not look deranged as before.

'What say we get out of here before the reporters arrive?' Harry asked. 'Unless of course you two love birds want to go book a room in the Leaky Cauldron and get on to more _serious_ matters, if you get my drift.'

Tonks and Remus blushed and Remus said, 'No we should get out of here.'

Harry chuckled and clapped Remus' shoulder and started walking towards the Leaky Cauldron. Suddenly he stopped and turned pale looking at the entrance to Diagon Alley.

The press had arrived.

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An hour later, Harry found himself answering the questions thrown at him. The reporters interviewing him fought to stand in front, almost like little kids in a canteen line. Harry sighed, it was going to be long afternoon.

He did not let his impatience show. He knew he had to make a good impression on the press, indirectly making a good impression on the Ministry. But he did not do this through bootlicking but he would make them respect him. To this he reluctantly took a leaf out of Snape's book and adopted an icy cold appearance answering with biting sarcasm.

'Were you in the battle?' one reporter asked him.

'No, I tripped over my own shoes, broke my teeth and started bleeding,' Harry answered scathingly.

Looking outraged, the reporter glared at him and started writing furiously. Looking coldly indifferent, Harry just turned away and started answering the other repoters' questions. At one point Rita Skeeter herself stood up started asking him question.

'The Auror, Shacklebolt. How do you feel about his death?' she asked.

Harry's heart clenched with pain and guilt as he thought of the Auror who had died because of him.

'_Do not wallow in self pity boy, its bad for you,'_ said the voice in his head.

Not letting his inner conflict show, he answered Rita's question.

'Yes Rita, my eyes are brimming with barely suppressed tears, and just about go and cry eyes out over his body, if only you all would stop _bugging_ me, if you get my drift.'

Apparently she did get his drift, and she squeaked and sank back into her stool, looking quite pale.

And so the afternoon went on with Harry continuing to infuriate the reporters. Finally they seemed to give up trying to get anything useful out of Harry and they walked off in huff. Harry watched them go in relief and went back to join his friends. Harry could make out that he had made an impression on them too, even Moody seemed impressed.

'Harry you are definitely one of the bravest men I know, what with scaring Rita Skeeter away and all,' said Remus in an awed voice.

'You learn to ignore some of their more irritating comments after a while,' said Harry dryly.

They chuckled and headed towards the door in the Leaky Cauldron, which led back to Diagon Alley. The shops were protected by spells so that no damage could occur to them. The Aurors had had removed the dead bodies, and carried of the captive Death Eaters, in the long afternoon he had spent with reporters. Harry went back to Ollivanders from where he purchased two wand holsters. He had read that the wand slid out of its holster at will, and did not need to be drawn. This saved the user a few precious moments in a battle. Harry sadly remembered Kingsley, his wand in his pocket and the surprise evident in his eyes, as he lay staring up at the sky.

Harry sighed and paid Ollivander the amount for the wand holster.

Harry turned to Remus and asked, 'Is there anywhere where I can get my eyes fixed?'

Remus seemed surprised but led Harry to a shop which Harry had never noticed before, _Wizard Opticians- Diagon Alley._ The owner looked up when they entered his shop and he promptly fell out of his chair when he saw who had entered his shop. He could not stop babbling about how he was honored that Harry had entered his shop.

Ten minutes later Harry walked out of the shop, without spectacles, and able to see clearly. All the job had taken were a few minutes, a few muttered incantations a little pain and a solution in his eyes. Not to mention a considerable lightening of Harry's purse. The owner was reluctant to take money at first, but Harry had refused to accept the service in free and had insisted on paying. The owner reluctantly took the money and bade them goodbye.

Harry went to Gringotts and exchanged some of his wizards galleons with a considerable sum of muggle money. Harry and his guard then went into muggle London, searching for a wardrobe for Harry. Tonks did most of the choosing, considering what judged Harry the best, Harry just stood impatiently, feeling like some kind of scapegoat, while the rest of his guard and the sales woman tried to suppress laughs.

Harry and his guard walked out of the shop an hour later, loaded with bags. A satisfied Tonks (who did not carry any bags) hailed the Knight Bus and bought them the tickets. Ten minutes later they staggered into the Dursleys house, and deposited the bags roughly in Harry's room.

'Well Harry, time to pack up,' said Tonks cheerfully.

'What for?' Harry asked.

'Well, we are going to the Burrow today, didn't you know,' Tonks said.

'You forgot to tell me that?' Harry asked incredulously.

'Well, surprise, surprise,' Tonks said.

Harry just shook his head as Tonks magically packed his trunk, but he could not stop an excited feeling from welling up in the pit of his stomach, as he thought of seeing his friends again.

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This chapter is just filling in between two chapters, so it isn't that great. I am sorry, I may not be able to update for while because I'm having internet problems. Please review it helps me write, how much time does it to send one review. Please review.And for those who wanted romance heres a bit. there wont be much more till the last chapter.


	5. Chapter 5

**First of all to fussbudget, when I said that Harry felt like a scapegoat (I do know the meaning) I meant that he felt like he had to take the blame of someone else's sins and hence he had to suffer. I am sorry that it's confusing and I'm also sorry for some of the spelling mistakes I have made in the chapters, I tend to overlook them (which probably explains my marks in English). I'll try to improve them and without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, the fifth chapter (I think it's the fifth, I've lost track). Forgive my cheap attempt at humor and read and review.**

**I'm not sure weather I have to write this or no but to be safe- I do not own Harry Potter, because if I did I would not write to impress you all, would I? **

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Harry could barely suppress his excitement as he walked out of the house with his guard, holding his broom stick in his left hand and dragging his trunk with his right hand. The sky was darkening now so there was no real need for a Disillusionment charm to be performed on him, but Moody, ever the paranoid one, performed one on him, 'Just in case'. Harry rolled his eyes but decided not to say anything as they mounted their brooms the moment a shower of bright red sparks, shot into the sky from far, far away. They kicked off from the ground after Moody had received the green signal from the unknown person.

Harry felt the same as last year, the same thrill, the same thoughtlessness, as if the wind had swept away his brains. He was suddenly gripped by sense of deep sadness, last year Sirius had been alive, after his death Harry's life had been not been the same. He was once quite a touchy boy, but now after Sirius' death, he had become much colder, almost like Snape was. With a jolt Harry realized that probably something similar had happened to the Potions Master. Harry also realized, that once he had had a boyish appearance to himself, but now he was more mature and he looked at things differently than he had done before and it took a great deal to surprise him now. He had also become less emotional than before.

Harry was shaken out of his musings, when he saw Moody signaling for them to stop. In midair they all stopped, while Moody cocked his head to one side as if listening for something. He furrowed his eye brow and muttered something under his breath. He suddenly looked up sharply and his face paled.

'Duck,' he cried desperately.

They all ducked instinctively, just as jets of light passed over their head, looking like fireworks in the darkness. Even in the dim light of the moon, Harry could make out the cloaked and hooded figures surrounding them on brooms, their wands held in front of them, pointing right at the small group of people surrounded in the centre. Voldemort must really be getting desperate if he was launching two attacks on Harry on the same day.

'You are surrounded, give up the boy and we'll let you live,' said the Death Eater, who seemed to be the leader of the band of Death Eaters.

'If you want the boy you'll have to go through us,' shouted Tonks, her wand in her hand and glaring defiantly at the Death Eaters.

'Very well. We will have the boy anyways, killing you or not,' said the Death Eater flatly.

'So be it,' cried back Remus.

And they started dueling. Thousands of feet in the air, where a stunner could be as deadly as the killing curse. Harry let his secondary wand slide into his hand, he wanted to test it, and there was no better way to test it than on a few Death Eaters. Harry moved his broom through the dueling wizards. The Death Eaters did not aim for him but for the air around him. Their tactics were impressive. As soon as one Death Eater shot a spell near him, he was replaced by another Death Eater, thus trying to make Harry stay in one place. But Harry was too smart to stay in one place, he zoomed around the night sky, making the Death Eaters, stop firing their spells around him for they feared hitting him and facing the wrath of their master, which would be great if something happened to Harry.

Harry fought back as best as he could while zooming in and out of the Death Eaters. Harry cursed and continued moving around the sky, scaring the Death Eaters.

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Moody maneuvered his broom as he dodged the onslaught of curses that his opponent was throwing at him, firing his own curses in return also having to dodge stray curses which seemed too many number. It was difficult to hit a moving target when you yourself were moving and dueling at the same time. The boy was his main concern, he was moving randomly through the battle not staying in one place for too long. Technically his stratergy was excellent, he made the Death Eaters hold back some of their more vicious curses which they would have used, had they not feared hitting Harry.

This was an unusual thing Voldemort had done. While the Death Eaters' tactics were impressive, they were too inexperienced to be used on missions like this. This fact became obvious to Moody soon enough, they were making too many mistakes, to be of Voldemort's inner circle. For example, they concentrated mainly on Harry, they were virtually ignoring the boys guard and concentrating on surrounding the boy and trying to cut of any escape route, leaving the guard free to stun the Death Eaters trying to surround the boy and capture him.

The battle was over soon enough, it was almost child's play to eliminate the Death Eater's. They managed to capture one and searched him there in midair. They found a note in his pocket and then pushed him of his broom. They watched as he fell into the dark abyss, his scream echoing back to them till it suddenly stopped far, far below.

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Harry just watched grimly, as the Death Eater fell away from them. Moody handed him the note (not before checking for concealed curses). Surprisingly it had Harry's name on it. Harry opened it carefully and read it. It said, in curved handwriting-

_You are not safe from me anywhere in the world Harry, I will find you and kill you, no matter who you put in front of yourself in defense. You will die at my hands Harry, and the prophecy will thus be fulfilled. Prepare yourself for death Harry because the final showdown between us is approaching. Prepare for it Harry, prepare for death._

Harry knew who the letter was from, Voldemort had probably even written it himself, he pocketed the letter and quietly told the others what was in the note. Surprisingly, Harry felt no fear at the thought of meeting Voldemort, whichever way it went, it would finally be over. Actually he found himself with a sick kind of anticipation welling up in his stomach. Harry could not wait for the meeting. Voldemort must have written one copy for each Death Eater to carry, knowing that Moody would want to search a captured Death Eater.

Their spirits damaged, the group of weary warriors flew towards the Burrow. They touched down in the back garden and dismounted from their brooms, fatigued and waiting for a warm bed. They trudged up the path leading to the back door. Apparently Molly Weasley had stayed up for them, for there was a light on in the kitchen and there was something cooking. They knocked on the door and there was a startled sound from inside and someone approached the door and opened the door a crack.

'Who is it?' Mrs. Weasley asked in a quavering voice.

'Voldemort in disguise,' Moody yelled back.

'Is that you Alastor?' Mrs. Weasley's asked.

'Yes,' Moody said. 'Tonks could change the color of her hair for you.'

Moody glanced at Tonks, who nodded and changed the color of her hair to a bright bubble gum pink.

Mrs. Weasley sighed with relief and let them in through the door.

'Harry dear, you've grown haven't you, you look a bit peaky, but we could fix that couldn't we?' she said, examining Harry from head to toe and somehow hugging him at the same time. Hugging was an understatement, it was like she was trying to crush Harry against her bosom. She noticed their grim faces and frowned around at them.

'What took you'll so long? Did Alastor try to bring you'll via Greenland again?' she asked still frowning at them.

Remus grimaced and told her everything that had happened in the day, including the attack in Diagon Alley and their recent encounter with the Death Eaters on broomsticks. She gasped suddenly and started checking Harry for signs of fever and any kind of injury. Luckily no one mentioned the injury's he had suffered during the attack on Diagon Alley. Moody had thankfully cleaned his wounds, so there was no sign of any injury.

Mrs. Weasley led Harry up to the room he would be sharing with Ron. Harry climbed into his camp bed without changing his clothes. He fell into a slumber disturbed by nightmares about his parents and Sirius.

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Harry awoke the next morning. Sunlight was streaming in through the open windows, but it was not the reason Harry awoke. Ron was jumping up and down on his bed like a two year old. Harry grunted and tripped Ron so that he fell of the bed with an almighty crash. Ron bellowed as he fell and glared at Harry.

Hermione looked torn between amusement and exasperation. They sat there for quite some time, enjoying each others company, until Hermione got up and announced that she was going to go downstairs and bring them breakfast. Harry and Ron continued to talk while they waited for Hermione to return.

A few minutes later she entered, with her face red and her hair seemed to be bushier than a few minutes ago. Harry and Ron did not recognize the danger signs. Ron noticed her empty hands and looked confused.

'Where's the breakfast?' he asked her.

Hermione glared at him and then turned towards Harry. Harry exchanged confused looks with Ron. Even for Hermione, this behavior was strange.

'What's wrong, Hermione?' Harry asked in a concerned voice.

'What's wrong?' she said in a flat voice. 'What's wrong you ask me. I'll tell you what's wrong. What's wrong is that you were attacked twice yesterday and you forgot to tell us.'

'Ah,' Harry said.

''Ah', all you have to say is 'Ah',' she yelled.

And thus, began her lecture, which seemed to involve a great deal of yelling and waving of her hands in the air. Harry and Ron slowly backed away from their red faced friend, feebly trying to get in a word or two. But it was in vain. Hermione, sounding increasingly like a fisherwoman, quieted them with a single glare, which caused them to gulp and continue backing away from her. Unfortunately Ron's room had only that much place. They baked against the wall, while Hermione continued her tirade.

Occasionally, through their fear they managed to hear a few comments. 'No responsibility.' 'Could have died.' 'Didn't bother to tell his best friends. Faugh.'

'Well are you going to tell us now?' she asked Harry, while glaring at him.

'Well there isn't really that much to tell,' he said then gulped when her glare became more intense. 'All right, keep your hairnet on.'

He proceeded to tell his friends all about the battle at Diagon Alley and the one in mid-air. Hermione and Ron went pale when as he proceeded with his tale. Again, like in his first year, he had the irrational thought that they were a great audience as they gasped in all the right places.

'But why?' said Hermione, her initial anger forgotten. 'I know Voldemort wanted to kill you, but this badly?'

'There's something else I haven't told you both,' said Harry hesitantly.

'What?' asked Hermione sharply.

Harry hesitated at first and then sighed and gathered his breath. ' 'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies… and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not… and either must at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives… the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…''

Hermione clapped her hands to her mouth and looked at him in horror while Ron just looked confused.

'What does it mean?' Ron asked in a confused voice.

'It means that I have to kill Voldemort, or I'll have to be killed by him,' said Harry. 'The law of the jungle. Eat or be eaten.'

Ron's eyes widened, as he too looked at Harry in horror.

'I wont blame you'll if you want to stay away from me,' Harry said.

Hermione calmly got up and slapped his across his face so hard that he would have an impression of her hand for the rest of the day. Harry looked at her and Ron in confusion. Ron was nodding his head in satisfaction and smiling at Hermione.

'You do know that we are going to stick with you where ever you go, don't you?' Ron said.

'No, you wont,' Harry said sharply, rubbing his cheek gingerly.

Hermione slapped him a second time. Ron grinned at him and gave Hermione an appraising look.

'Now do you know we are going with you,' Hermione said.

Harry threw his hands in the air in defeat and nodded. Hermione smiled and sat down on Ron's bed and watched him.

'Does this meeting have to happen?' she asked quietly.

Harry nodded and said, 'It will happen weather I want it to or not. I will walk into the battle field with my head held high, not be dragged there by Voldemort's minions.'

Ron grinned at him and gave him the thumbs-up.

'We'll be right there with you mate, you better accept that fact,' Ron said still grinning.

Hermione nodded her head, and started talking about the OWL results which were due to come tomorrow. As he looked at Ron groaning and Hermione giving him stern look, he felt a surge of pride and a lump in his throat.

'_How touching, makes me want to cry. What did you expect boy, that they would abandon you?'_ The voice in his head snorted derisively.

'_Who are you?'_ Harry asked.

'_You'll know soon enough boy,'_ whispered the voice.

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Sorry for the lack of updates, it's not really my fault that my internet is not working. Please, please review.


	6. Chapter 6

Harry spent most of his time at the Burrow playing Quidditch with Ron and Ginny. The Weasley twins spent devoted their time to their shop, rarely coming to visit their family. They slept in a flat above their shop, since they did not want to leave it unguarded. Harry continued his training, running in the vast fields around the village of Ottery St. Catchpole. His training really had taken effect, now even he could see it. He had developed muscles thanks to his exercise. They weren't bulky muscles, but they weren't entirely invisible either. In fact he did not want bulky muscles like those of a brawler, but had lean ones, which even looked better.

He had told Ron and Hermione the reason he did not have glasses any more. He even told them the reason why he was exercising. Harry continued to have conversations with the voice in his head, though they just increased the number of questions Harry meant to ask the wretched voice. The only thing Harry managed to get out of the voice was that he would come to know who the voice was on his birthday, if the voice was a 'who'. This by itself was not satisfying and Harry grew more and more irritated.

'_You could consider it a birthday present from me,'_ said the voice.

'_Couldn't you give me an early birthday present?'_ Harry thought hopefully.

'_The best kind of prize is a surprise,' _said the voice, sniggering.

'_You're not related to Peeves are you?'_ Harry thought.

'_Fortunately for you, I'm not. If I was related to him you would find yourself in a nasty situation,'_ said the voice.

'_You do realize that you're very, very irritating, don't you?'_ Harry asked.

'_One tries ones best,'_ said the voice._ 'After all one has a certain reputation to keep.'_

Harry just glared at nothing in particular and continued his jog. He could not suppress his excitement. Tomorrow would be his birthday, he would be turning sixteen. And finally he would know the reason the voice was in his head. And he would receive his OWL results today. He was pretty sure he would not be allowed to take Potions this year, so would not be able to become an Auror. That hardly mattered now, since he highly doubted he would live till then. He had improved at Potions over the summer, he was not able to make them but he had read and re-read his text books. He was pretty sure he could brew all the potions mentioned in the text book.

He headed back towards the Burrow, as the sun was twice it's height over the horizon now, and he was feeling very hungry. After a much needed breakfast returned to the room he shared with Ron and sat down on his bed with his text books.

'_Nerd,' _the voice in his head sniggered.

Harry just ignored the voice and continued his studies. He had gotten very good at ignoring stuff, over the summer. An hour later he was forced to look up from his studies because of a tap on window. There was an owl perched on the sill and it had three letters tied to its leg. Harry opened the widow and let the tawny owl into the room. He saw the Ministry seal on the three letters and felt nervous.

'Hermione, Ron get your butts up here,' Harry called, not bothering to keep his language in check.

His two friends hurried into the room their wands held in front of them. They looked around wildly and when they saw that nothing was wrong they sighed with relief and lowered their wands. They looked at him mildly irritated, Hermione reprovingly.

'Language Harry,' she said sternly.

Harry held up the Ministry letters mutely and handed each of them their letters. Hermione looked to be on the verge of fainting while Ron just looked resigned to his fate. They broke the seals of the letters, took a deep breath and opened them, almost together.

**Dear Mr. Potter, the following letter contains the results of your Ordinary Wizarding Level examination. Good luck.**

**OWL results, Harry James Potter, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.**

**Pass grades: O Outstanding**

**E Exceeds Expectations**

**A Acceptable**

**Fail grades: P Poor**

**D Dreadful**

**T Troll**

**You have achieved:**

**Astronomy: A**

**Care of Magical Creatures: O**

**Charms: E**

**Defence Against the Dark Arts: O**

**Divination: D**

**Herbology: E**

**History of Magic: T**

**Potions: O**

**Transfiguration: O **

**Congratulation Mr. Potter you have received 7 OWL's.**

Harry's eyes nearly fell out of their sockets, he could not believe his eyes. He had got an outstanding in _Potions?_ It was impossible. He hardly cared about Divination and History of Magic, he had known he would fail them. What he could not believe was that he had got4 outstanding OWL's. He knew he would get an O in Defence, but the others came as surprise. Actually if he thought about it, his Potions ability was not as bad as Snape, made it out. His was good at Potions but Snape refused to see it that way. He hated Harry Potter and so Potters Potion making ability was negligible. He was proud of himself, for getting such great results, and he could still become Auror! Considering he lived that long enough, that is.

'_My, aren't we in a cheerful mood today,' _the voice in his head said.

'_Shut up,'_ Harry said.

He looked up to see his friends poring over their own letters. Ron looked up grinned at Harry. He held up six fingers and shook his head in disbelief. Harry grinned back and nodded towards Hermione. They walked over to her and tried to look over her shoulder at her letter. She looked up, her eyes filled with tears, handed them her letter, and ran out of the room sobbing.

Harry shook his head in exasperation and looked at her letter. She had got O's in all her subjects, except in History of Magic, in which she had got an E. Ron shook his head at her stupidity and looked at Harry.

'She's actually sad!' he said incredulously.

'Mental,' Harry said.

Harry and Ron spent the morning discussing their OWL results while searching for Hermione. They finally found her seated near a small pond, in one of the fields surrounding the Burrow. She had Crookshanks in her lap and was throwing small pebbles in the water. She still had the tear tracks running down her face, and was staring gloomily at the pond.

'Go ahead, make fun of me,' she said abruptly.

'Hermione, why would we make fun of you?' Ron asked.

'Yeah, you still topped, and got the most number of OWL's in our year,' Harry added.

'How do you know that?' she asked, looking up at him.

Harry shook his head and rolled his eyes. 'It's at times like this that I wonder how you're so clever, Hermione. Come on, no ones taken as many subjects as you, and you got OWL's in all of them.'

Hermione suddenly smiled. 'I was acting stupid wasn't I?'

'You have no idea,' Harry replied.

Grinning, he and Ron sat down on either side of Hermione. They spent their time talking and enjoying each others company, until Ron's stomach began to protest. Feeling hungry, all three of them headed back to the Burrow, where they had a much needed lunch. They told Mr. and Mrs.Weasley about their OWL results, and they both were ecstatic. Mr.Weasley started talking about buying them a blender, as a gift and Mrs.Weasley hugged each of them with moist eyes that turned to glare at her husband ever so often.

Harry, Ron and Ginny decided to play a play Quidditch. It was like a contest. First there would be one on one between Ron and his only sister, and the winner would play against Harry. They spent the afternoon and the better of the evening doing this, while Hermione chose to bring out a book and read it under a spreading chestnut tree. After it became dark Hermione carefully marked her page and watched her friends playing Quidditch. They reluctantly trudged back to the house, away from the apple orchard.

Something caught Harry's eye, and his eyes widened. He pretended to have an undone shoe lace and let the others get a little ahead of him. He then headed back a little way and bent to the ground near the chestnut tree where Hermione had been sitting and reading. There almost concealed in the grass was the most beautiful snake Harry had ever seen.

It was a beautiful green in color and had a red stripe running across its fore head and down its back. Its eyes were like glittering diamonds as they surveyed Harry quite calmly. It was not very large. Perhaps a foot and a half long, and as thick as a seven year olds wrist.

'_What's your name?'_ Harry asked the snake.

'_You speak our language?'_ The snake sounded surprised. _'My name is Zith.'_

Its voice sounded feminine.

'_My name is Harry Potter,' _Harry hissed.

'_Shadow Slayer?'_the snake hissed._ 'Yes you are Shadow Slayer, I see your mark.'_

The snake sounded even more surprised than before.

'_I did not know that I was called that,'_ Harry asked.

'_Yes you are called that by us snakes. You are legend amongst us. We too were happy to see the downfall of the Shadow. You two-legs think that we are evil, but like you'll we too are good and bad.'_

'_I know that,'_ Harry hissed quickly, not wanting to offend her. _'Tell me Zith, are you poisonous?'_

'_I am the deadliest snake in the world,' _she said proudly.

'_I should go now, my friends will be looking for me,' _Harry said.

'_I would like to come with you Shadow Slayer,' _Zith said.

'_Do you have any way in which you could hide yourself?'_ Harry asked.

'_I have magical powers too,' _she said proudly. _'I could make myself invisible.'_

Harry didn't know why he did it, but he let the snake coil herself around his wrist and make herself invisible. It didn't make any sense, but even the voice in his head urged him to take the snake with. Harry returned to the Burrow and decided not to tell his friends about his new pet. He did not know why, but he wanted to keep the snake as secret weapon.

That night Harry lay down in his bed, looking out of the window at the starry sky, with Zith curled up on his stomach. Tomorrow would be great day, it was his birthday tomorrow. Tomorrow he would know why there was an irritating voice in his head, tomorrow…….

Little did he know that after tomorrow, his life would never be the same.

**00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

TBC.

Please review.


	7. Chapter 7

Harry waited for sleep to carry him away and he readied himself for his disturbing nightmares. Unfortunately he was to excited to sleep and couldn't wait to know who the voice in his head was. He twisted and turned in his bed, listening to Ron's snores and trying to sleep with all his might.

'_Aren't we over excited today?'_ said the voice in his head.

'_When will you tell me who you are?'_ Harry asked.

He received silence in reply. Harry sighed and tried to sleep. He looked at his watch. The glowing hands of the clock were visible to him.

11:58

He couldn't wait any longer, he had to know…………..

11:59

He was considering tearing his hair out…………..

12:00

He waited with barely suppressed excitement as the watch ticked over to 12:00 am. Finally after what seemed like eons he would know why the voice was in his head. Who it was or what it was, he would finally know. He waited for the voice to say something……………………………………

……………… and he fell asleep.

**0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

He knew immediately that it was no normal sleep, he could feel the magic all around him. He was in some kind of room which had transparent walls and a transparent floor. He could see the Earth far below him, the oceans and the continents, all of them. He waited for something to happen while gaping out of the wall of the room.

'Finally, I thought you had got stuck somewhere, what with your big and thick head and what not.'

Harry immediately recognized the voice as the same as the one in his head. He whirled around, to face an old man. He was not an ordinary man, Harry could tell. He had a certain agelessness to his face, which made him look regal. He had obviously been a handsome man and traces of it still lingered in his face. He had warm brown eyes and had a sword strapped to his waist. He was dressed in red robes.

'Who are you?' asked Harry, burning with curiosity.

'Your to-be mentor,' he said evasively. 'Unfortunately.' He added as an after thought.

'That doesn't really answer my question,' Harry said.

'I know,' the man said in the irritatingly familiar voice.

'Well you said you would tell me who you are,' Harry said.

'I say a lot of things,' he said, examining his finger nails.

He caught Harry's glare and raised his hands.

'Fine, I'll tell you,' he said. 'I am your mentor, your great, great, well really great grandfather. And oh I happen to be Godric Gryffindor.'

Harry stared at him in disbelief.

'You have got be joking.'

'I'm not.'

'Okay then prove it,' Harry said.

'Fine,' he said.

He lifted his sword and held it out to Harry. Harry saw the inscription on it saying Godric Gryffindor. He sheathed the sword and looked at Harry.

'Happy now?' Gryffindor demanded.

'Ok now prove I'm your great grandson,' Harry said.

'There's no way to do that,' Godric said. 'You have to believe me. I am supposed to guide you in your battle against Voldemort and help you win. Being my heir, its only natural you fight Slytherin's heir.'

'Ok, I believe you. Now how exactly are you going to guide me being only a voice?' Harry asked.

'I knew Slytherins the lucky one,' he said in a whisper.

Louder he added, 'I can talk to you, my boy.'

'Oh, I didn't think of that.'

'Obviously.'

'You don't seem as great as the historians say you are,' Harry said.

'They tend to exaggerate a bit,' Godric said.

'Well … Grandfather,' Harry faltered. 'What am I supposed to do?'

'First of all call me Godric, and secondly let me finish talking,' Godric said.

'Now listen Harry, you are the strongest wizard alive, there was one other who was stronger but he is dead,' Godric went on. 'He was a great man. Anyways you have to fight Voldemort in the future, and you have to be ready for it.'

'If I'm the strongest wizard, doesn't it mean that I'll beat Voldemort?' Harry asked.

'You're stronger, he is more skilled,' Godric said. 'Both your future and his future are undecided. Tell no one about this encounter, for lack of a better word, and try not to kill yourself.'

'One more thing, how do you have that sword?' Harry asked.

'Everything here is a shadow of the real thing, so are you,' Godric said. 'Now goodbye and sleep well. While departing lets all pray that Voldemort grows a boil on his bottom. Amen. Goodnight.

Harry felt himself drifting into the abyss of sleep and then he knew nothing more.

**000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

Harry woke up the next morning wondering weather or not last night had been a dream. He finally decided it was not. He sighed and got up from his bed. He went down to breakfast to see the table laden with gifts and owls. Hermione hugged him and Ron thumped him on the back. After eating a hurried breakfast he began to open his presents. He had (predictably) received a book from Hermione. It was a book on dueling so it was not really that bad. From Ron he received a large box of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans. From Fred and George he received a box of their latest prank items. From Mr. and Mrs. Weasley he received a large box of home made fudge. From Hagrid he received a pouch of some kind which seemed to have teeth, he rather apprehensively put the cord of the pouch around his neck, and sighed with relief when it did not take out a chunk of its flesh.

He spent the rest of the morning opening his presents. He had received presents from all his friends at school including the DA. Even Zacharias had sent him a present. It was a box of chocolate box. Ron, rather wisely told him to heck the chocolates for poison before eating them. He did not know weather to open Cho's gift or not but in the end decided to open it. It was a card **(a n – I'm running out of presents)** and thankfully nothing more. There was also a note which he decided to read later. He was not interested in her anymore. He decided to go out and take a walk. Hermione had homework left to do and dragged Ron of too. She seemed to be surprised when Harry told her that he had already finished all his holiday homework.

While having his walk, he realized he had not exercised at all today. He continued to talk to Zith. The snake really was fascinating. She told him a great deal about her life and how her poison could be used in many vital Potions. Apparently people would pay a great deal for her poison as her species was very rare. Surprisingly the little snake knew a lot about Potions and Harry eagerly took in everything she told him. Potions, was a fascinating subject and Zith said that he knew Potions quite well. He reached the pond where he and his friends had sat talking yesterday. Having nothing better to do he took out the note Cho had sent him and sat reading it. It said-

_Dear Harry,_

_I know that what I did last year was unfair. I was going through a great deal at that time with Cedric's death and my conflicting feelings for you. I hope we can give our relationship another chance in the coming year at Hogwarts. If not that we can at least be friends. I hop you too feel the same as I do._

_Love,_

_Cho_

_P.S. I've also broken up with Michael Corner._

Harry looked at the letter incredulously. After all that had happened last year, she wanted him to forgive her and her sneak friend for all she had one. If it wasn't for her, Dumbledore would have been at Hogwarts when Harry ran of to 'save' Sirius. He could have stopped Harry from going to the Department of Mysteries. For all he knew Sirius may have been alive!

'_Are all right in the head boy?' _Godric asked. _'There could be a thousand people who can responsible for Sirius' death, one of them being you. What must happen, will happen weather you like it or not. There could be reason Sirius died, which may help you in the final battle against Voldemort.'_

'_Tell me Godric, you said there was a man who was stronger than me. Who was he?'_Harry asked.

'_He was the heir to my master, just as you are my heir,'_ Godric said. _'He was like you in many ways, you know.'_

'_Your master?'_ Harry asked curiously.

'_Who you'll now call Merlin,'_ Godric said in a respectful tone.

Harry pondered over that for while. It felt weird to be strong. On an impulse he took out his spare wand. It was black in color and 12 inches long. He looked at it for a long time. He suddenly raised it pointed at a large rock nearby.

'_Accio!' _he said.

The result was shocking. The rock came zooming towards him at an incredible pace. He just managed to roll aside as the rock zoomed past him and cratered in the tree against which he had been resting his back.

'That's surprising,' he said to no one on particular.

'_I thought that you would be immune by now,'_ said Godric, laughing.

Harry grinned. It was not really funny and it was party right. He had said that more out of habit than actual surprise. Harry then sighed, he had a great burden placed on him, and now he had gone and dragged his friends into it.

'_Learn to live with what can't be changed,'_ Godric quoted.

'_Shut up,'_ Harry said absently, still thinking about the task ahead of him. He mentally shook himself, Godric was right he was just going to have to learn to live with it.

'_I'm always right,'_ Godric said.

'_Shut up,'_ Harry said.

**0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

**Please review people and tell me how spectacular this story is. I don't use the word review just because I like it. I mean I want your opinion on the story, incase you'll didn't know that.**


	8. Chapter 8

Harry couldn't wait to be back at Hogwarts. He found himself thinking increasingly about the castle, which had been his home for the past five years. He thought about his dormitory his occasional fights with Malfoy, the feasts that the house elves cooked for the entire student body. He missed going to Hogsmeade and sneaking around at night through the castle. Most of all he missed playing Quidditch. Everyday he yearned to be back on his broom playing a real match at Hogwarts and beating the hell out of Slytherin.

He did play Quidditch with Ron and Ginny almost everyday, but it was not the same thing as playing at Hogwarts. He now only occasionally thought about Sirius. There seemed to be an empty space in his life now, a space which Sirius had once filled. He spent most of his time, staring out of the small window in Ron's room. His mood was dark for the next few days. He snapped at his friends and got irritated easily.

He had thousands of questions for Godric, but he had disappeared. At times Harry felt guilty about the way he had been treating his best friends, they were after all only trying to help him. Then he was visited by a totally unexpected person a week before school started.

**0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

Harry was sitting and eating his breakfast alone for a change. The others sensing his dark mood left him to himself, albeit reluctantly. There was knock at the door and Harry got up and answered it. He saw the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry standing in the doorway, childishly trying to separate two stuck lemon drops. He looked up when Harry opened the door and smiled at him from over his half moon glasses.

Albus Dumbledore looked the same as ever. He was wearing mid night, blue robes. His white hair and beard were as long as ever. His half moon glasses were perched on his crooked nose, as he surveyed Harry with his twinkling blue eyes. Harry looked away from Dumbledore's gaze. Their last meeting, after all, had not been very pleasant.

'Ah, Harry, just the man I wanted,' he said coming in and seating himself in front of Harry's chair. He motioned for Harry to sit down. Harry reluctantly sat in front of him still not meeting the blue gaze.

'Harry, please do not stew over what happened last year, it was not you're fault,' Professor Dumbledore said.

Harry just nodded mutely, still looking at the floor. Dumbledore finally realized why, Harry was staring at the floor and laughed.

'Are you afraid that you broke something important, last year?' He asked, laughing. 'I've been trying to figure out what those instruments do for years now. I was going to throw them out away anyways.'

Harry looked up at him in surprise and grinned when he saw that Dumbledore was serious.

'I'm sorry anyways, Professor,' Harry said sincerely.

Dumbledore just smiled at him merrily. He then sighed.

'Harry, I know that you're not yet ready for this, but you have to know. Sirius' will was found last night. You have to go to Diagon Alley tomorrow for the reading of his will,' Dumbledore said, looking at him intently.

Harry sighed. He had known that this would happen sooner or later. The only problem was that he was not sure weather he was ready to face this or not. He could hide his feelings from others, but not from himself. He still felt a deep sense of loss when he thought about his godfather. Sirius had been the closest thing he had to a parent. Harry sighed again.

'Fine,' he said, reluctantly. 'How will I be getting there?'

'You and your entire guard will be traveling by the Knight Bus, to Diagon Alley,' Dumbledore said. 'Your friends, Ms. Granger and Mr. Weasley will accompany you'll as they need their new school supplies and their books and you need you're books.'

Harry nodded again, and got up as Dumbledore left the house. Mrs. Weasley came rushing into the kitchen looking around frantically. She saw Harry and sighed with relief.

'I heard someone apparating,' she said, the relief evident in her voice.

'It was Professor Dumbledore,' Harry told her. 'We are going to Diagon Alley tomorrow.'

**0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

Harry hardly slept that night. He kept thinking about the next day and hearing Sirius' will. He kept tossing and turning, which irritated Zith a lot. She kept hissing at him in an annoyed voice.

'_Cant you humans keep still. How you'll ever hunt, I'll never know,' _she hissed.

'_Sorry,'_ he said.

He tried to stay still after that. The more he tried to stay still, the more he tossed and turned. Zith, finally getting irritated, slithered off his stomach and went in search of another place to sleep.

He was awakened the next morning by a yell from Ron and hisses from Zith.

'What,' Harry asked, annoyed.

'What the hell is that,' Ron yelled at him, pointing at Zith.

'A snake,' Harry replied calmly.

'What is a snake doing in my room,' Ron said, looking fearfully at the snake.

'She's mine,' Harry said.

'You have a snake?' Ron said.

'You have an amazing grasp of the obvious,' Harry replied sarcastically.

Ron fearfully accepted Zith in his room, when Harry convinced him that she would not bite anyone.

Zith was still spitting angrily.

'_That human stepped on me.'_

'_Ignore him,'_Harry hissed at her.

Hermione, hearing the commotion, came charging into the room. She saw the snake and nearly fainted. Harry calmly told her what he had told Ron about his snake. She didn't seem entirely convinced, but accepted Harry's little friend anyways.

'Get dressed, we're going to Diagon Alley,' Harry told them.

At eleven there was a knock on the door. Harry's guard had come to pick him up for the trip to Diagon Alley. Zith, as usual, was coiled around his wrist. Godric was humming some old tune in Harry's head. Tonks and Remus were hand in hand. Harry was happy to see Remus happy. They went out to wait for the Knight Bus. Stan Shunpike looked fearfully at Moody and assured him that he would not let anyone know who was on his bus. The white faced conductor handed them their tickets and then scurried away to hide somewhere.

Harry just sat in silence near his two best friends and Ginny who had insisted on coming with them, as Ernie Prang, the driver drove the bus recklessly through the streets of London. They dot off outside the Leaky Cauldron. Tom, once again shot them a hopeful glance and then sighed and went back to polishing a cup. Diagon Alley, too, had changed. It wasn't its cheerful self. People went about their work, not stopping to stare at the items displayed in the windows. The only shop that was doing well was number 94, _Wealeys' Wizard Wheezes._ There was a colorful display of the twins' latest fireworks and colorful signs saying which items were on sale and the latest inventions.

They walked past the store. Remus told them that they would come back to the store later, after buying the school books and supplies. They walked to Gringgots and filled up their money bags. Harry bought ice creams for all of them. They bought all their supplies and books. Harry and his friends went to Madam Malkins to buy new robes for themselves. Harry, especially, needed new robes as he had grown a lot in the summer. Harry dreaded going back to Gringotts for the reading of Sirius' will. Harry sighed and walked all the way to the wizarding bank. The short walk seemed to take hour. Harry tried not to think about his God Father, trying to occupy himself in some way or the other.

Harry entered through the huge doors. The bank was exactly like it had been six years ago. Goblins were weighing ruby's the size of eggs. They were counting money at the tables. Harry walked up to the head goblin who was surveying the other goblins imperiously. He was not the only one who wanted to lag behind. Remus, too was reluctant to walk up to the head goblin. Harry gathered his will and walked up to him.

'I have come for the reading of Sirius Black's will,' Harry said.

The goblin looked down at him from the podium on which he was standing. He looked at him for a long moment and then nodded. Luckily goblins did not take interest in the matters of wizards, so the fact that Sirius was supposedly a mass murderer did not make a difference to the goblins. No other wizard would come to know why Harry was there. Unless Harry decided otherwise which he would not. Harry followed him through one of the many doors in the bank. Surprisingly, this door led to a lavish office. The goblin took a seat and gestured for Harry and the others to do the same. Taking a seat, Harry saw the goblin properly.

'Griphook?' Harry asked.

The goblin nodded and said, 'I prefer Mr. Goldgrant, now that I have been promoted.'

He sounded like he owned the world.

'Let's get to the point,' Griphoo……. er Mr. Goldgrant said. 'You are Harry Potter, Godson of Sirius Black, here for the reading of his will?'

'Yes, I am,' Harry replied, his voice not betraying any emotion.

'Then we shall continue,' the goblin said. 'This is the last will and testament of Sirius Black.

'_I Sirius Black, last living male of the Black family, thus write my testament, under no pressure from anyone and in my full awareness of my surroundings. First of all to my Godson, Harry Potter, I leave 70 million galleons. To Nymphadora Tonks I leave the sum of 70 million galleons. To Molly and Arthur Weasley I leave 50 million galleons. To Ronald Weasley, I leave 1 million galleons. To Hermione Granger, I leave 1 million galleons. To Ginerva Weasley, I leave 1 million galleons. Finally, to Remus Lupin, I leave the sum of 70 million galleons. My estates and houses are to be left to Harry Potter. _

Harry looked around the room. Everyone was staring at the goblin incredulously. Remus' eyes were popping out. Ron's mouth was in danger of falling off his jaw. Hermione was looking in shock at the Goblin. Ginny was staring at the goblin, wondering whether the goblin was wrong.

'There's more,' Mr. Goldgrant said. 'He's left some of you letters.'

Harry took his letter from the goblin. Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Remus also took theirs from the goblin. Harry did not want to open his. He did not know whether he could look at his Godfathers writing again. He would break own and start crying. No, he had to face facts, he had to get used to facing facts. He took a deep breath and broke wax seal on the letter. He opened it.

_Harry,_

_If you are reading this then it means that I am dead. Please do not cry over this, everyone has to die some day or the other. I have left you all my houses and estates. I implore you to let Moony stay in them whenever he wants, though I am sure that you would have done that anyways. Please, do not cry over my death._

_Love Sirius._

Harry read and re read the letter. He moved to Ron's side and read his letter. It said that Sirius was leaving him money because they had been at Harry's side, when no one else was. Harry presumed that Hermione's and Ginny's said the same thing. Remus had already finished reading his letter and was staring into space. Harry looked into Remus' eyes and saw………….. happiness?

**Well people sorry for the late update. I'm sick. Have chickenpox. And boils in places where no guy wants it. May not be able to update for sometime. Please review. And don't just praise the story, be critical too.  
**


	9. Chapter 9

Harry lay in bed staring up at the ceiling, the night before returning to Hogwarts. The glint of happiness in Remus' eyes disturbed him for some reason. It didn't make sense to Harry. Remus could not be evil or anything, Harry was sure. He had to have some reason to be happy during the reading of his best friends will.

'_Do I need to give you a reason to come out there and hex you?' _Godric asked.

'_Where have you been?'_ Harry asked.

'_The answer to that will be meaningless to you,' _Godric replied.

'_Try me,' _Harry said.

'_Trust me,'_Godric said.

'_Not if I can help it.'_

'_You can't.'_

'_Shut up.'_

Harry continued to toss and turn, finally making so much noise that he woke up _Ron!_ Ron groaned at him and mumbled something about dancing cats and lay back down in his bed. Unfortunately Ron too didn't get sleep after that and he too kept tossing and turning. He gave up trying to sleep and got up and lit a few candles.

'What's bothering you so much?' he demanded of Harry.

'Nothing,' Harry said quickly.

'So could you please try to sleep, we have to catch the Hogwarts express tomorrow,' he said. 'It won't wait for us.'

He blew out the candles and went back to tossing and turning. Harry lay back and reflected over the previous week. After the reading if Sirius' will in Diagon Alley, the party had moved to Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. Harry, for the most part had been too disturbed to concentrate on even some of the wonders the twins had created. He kept remembering his Godfather and the happy glint in Remus' eyes. Harry did buy some of the items, but they were bought only on the basis of how useful they would be in a battle against Death Eaters. He had bought Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder in large quantities, a large number of Decoy Detonators to provide distractions when he needed them and as an afterthought he picked up a couple of U-No-Poo's.

Thinking about Death Eaters made him think of his pending battle with Voldemort. His friends insisted in coming with him, even though he had told them how difficult it would be and how they would not be able to concentrate on their studies. It was a lame excuse, but Harry needed something to dissuade his friends. Harry suddenly sat up straight. This was the time that the final decision would be made whether his friends would accompany him or not. He threw his pillow at Ron and woke him up. After he told him not to go back to sleep he went to the room which Hermione shared with Ginny. He knocked on the door lightly. Hermione, bleary eyed, opened the door, clutching a robe around herself

'Go away Harry, I'm sleeping,' Hermione said.

'No, come with me. The three of us have something to discuss, now,' Harry said firmly

'Okay, wait a minute,' she said.

She closed the door in is face. Ten minutes later Hermione came out if the room, every hair in place and wearing proper robes. Harry just rolled his eyes towards the ceiling. A woman always needed to comb her hair, for reason's best known to only to her. Sometimes Harry thought that if the world was ending, a woman would use some of her remaining time to fix her hair. Ron was waiting for them, sitting on the edge of his bed. He had nodded off, in the fifteen minutes that Harry had taken to get Hermione. Hermione shook him awake and sat down near him. Harry sat in his bed facing both his best friends.

'You'll say that you'll want to accompany me on my quest to kill Voldemort?' Harry asked.

Hermione and Ron, both rolled their eyes upwards and said, 'Yes.'

'Are you'll sure.'

'Yes, Harry!'

'You know how difficult its going to be, don't you?' Harry asked.

'Yes, we do Harry and we'll help you face them,' Ron said.

'There's no backing out of this, so tell me now if you want out,' Harry said.

'We are coming with you, whether you like it or not,' Hermione said firmly.

'Then you'll will have to train with me,' Harry said.

'Fine Harry, no sweat,' Ron said.

'Oh, you are going to sweat all right,' Harry said, grinning at his two best friends.

They just grinned back at him.

Harry felt a weird sense of pride looking at his friends. They fought a lot but they had stuck with him in his most difficult time, willingly. He needed them now more then ever before. He needed their help to complete this seemingly impossible mission fate had set him. His two best friends now shared his fate. They would follow him wherever he went.

'_Looks like our Harry's getting sentimental,' _Godric said slyly in his head.

'_Shut up Godric,'_Harry said.

'_Aren't you going to tell them about me?' _

'_Are you sure that I should tell them?'_

'_It's the right thing to do.'_

'_Fine.'_

Harry took a deep breath and faced his best friends. They were arguing as usual, about who had agreed to accompany Harry first.

'I'm the heir of Gryffindor,' Harry said simply.

'_You're amazingly subtle, Grandson mine,' _Godric sang in his head.

His friends' reaction were anticipated. Hermione's eyes grew wider and wider until the point that she looked like an owl. Ron fell of the bed and said, 'Huh?'

'I'm the heir of Godric Gryffindor, and he's sitting in my head right now doing nothing except passing comments about things that do not concern him,' Harry said.

'_How rude, I'm offended,' _Godric said, sniffing as if he were really offended.

'There he goes again,' Harry said, sighing.

'You didn't tell us this?' Hermione asked.

'You didn't ask,' Harry said in defense.

Hermione raised her eyebrows at him and stared at him coolly. Harry let it lie there thinking it unwise to argue with Hermione.

'_Smart boy,'_Godric said.

At that moment Zith came slithering out of his shirt and started hissing at Harry.

'_I'm trying to sleep here,' _she hissed. _'If one of you is having trouble sleeping, I could put you to sleep by biting you.'_

'_That's quite all right,' _Harry hissed hurriedly.

Harry told him all about Gryffindor hurriedly and then shooed Hermione out of the room and extinguished the lights. He finally got sleep after that. The last thing he remembered before falling asleep was the sense of pride he felt in the pit of his stomach, thinking of his two best friends.

**000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

Harry got up and trained the next morning as usual with an eager Hermione and a sleepy Ron. They had to catch the Hogwarts express at eleven that morning, but that hardly mattered as it was six in the morning. Harry was merciless in his training, no letting his two friends rest at all. After half an hour of running, Hermione didn't look so eager any more and Ron didn't look sleepy any more. Harry, pitying them, stopped and told them to run around a little more, lest their muscles cramped up. He proceeded with push up's and sit up's. Surprisingly, Hermione managed to do more of those than Ron. Finally, not able to bear it any more, his two friends collapsed, panting, to the ground.

They went back to the house after Harry finished his morning exercise. They washed up for the day and wore muggle clothes, for their journey to Kings Cross. Then they waited for the others to get up. Harry hated waiting, but he knew that waiting was going to be a large part of his life now. They were going to the station by Ministry cars, which the Ministry was kindly providing for Harry's protection, now that they knew that the Dark Lord was back.

Harry snorted. He couldn't believe how thick the Ministry had been over the past year. They had to learn to be more trusting. Suddenly Harry needed someone to talk to, but not his friends. He needed his friend in the attic.

'_You there?'_Harry asked.

'_No, I'm off counting the rays of the sun,' _Godric said sarcastically.

'_I need someone to talk to,' _Harry informed him.

'_Everyone does once in a while,' _Godric said.

'_Why me?' _Harry demanded sullenly.

'_That's an idiotic question to ask,' _Godric said.

'_Why does it have to be me?'_

'_Would you give the responsibility to someone else?'_

Harry thought about that, sitting in the back of the Ministry car. There were only six of them and the driver and they all could sit in the magically enhanced car comfortably. He wouldn't really like to hand over the responsibility to anyone else. He thought of Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore. He wouldn't give any of them the responsibility. Not even Dumbledore. Dumbledore was too trusting for his own good. He still believed that there was some good in Voldemort left. Harry didn't believe that, Voldemort was so evil that there was no coming back for him.

They got out of the car and dragged their trunks inside, through the downpour, which had suddenly started while they were on their way to Kings Cross. Harry passed through the barrier, onto platform nine and three quarters. The scene on the platform was the same as Harry had seen it five years ago. Parents were exchanging teary farewells with their children. Students were dragging trunks into the train. They were calling for missing stuff, calling to their parents that they would write to them.

Harry, frankly, didn't understand the reason for all the fuss. It was obvious that children would write to their parents and the parents would reply. What was the point of tears? Tears were meaningless, they wouldn't change anything! Harry just shook his head in wonder and started hauling his trunk onto the train. People as usual ogled at him as if he were a freak of nature. They immediately went quiet when Harry passed close to them. Well honestly! He wasn't going to eat them up or something. As usual wherever he went, the female population of that area stared at him as he passed by. Harry groaned. This year he had been chosen Quidditch captain and girls were bound to turn up in hordes just to watch him.

Ron and Hermione left him standing there, being the center of attention, and went of to their prefect meeting. Harry went to the train, uncomfortably, searching for a compartment. People were shamelessly staring at him as he passed by their compartments. All the compartments seemed to be full of shamelessly staring students who would certainly do a lot of boot licking that year to get in Harry's good books. Harry finally came to a compartment, which was empty except for two people. Neville and Luna were sitting in the compartment. Luna was reading an upside down copy of the Quibbler. Neville was staring at her uncomfortably while holding a struggling Trevor in his hand. He looked up in relief when Harry walked into the compartment dragging his trunk behind him.

'Hi Harry,' he said in relief.

'Hi Neville, hi Luna,' Harry said, plopping down in a seat next to Neville.

They spent the train journey discussing their OWL results and Luna told them about her search for the Crumple-Horned Snorkack. Apparently all her father and she had found was a set of footprints whose description sounded for all the world like a wolfs footprint. Ron and Hermione came back at noon, Ron as usual starving. Unfortunately the food trolley had not yet passed by. Malfoy and his cronies chose that moment to enter the compartment and started trying to taunt Harry. The food trolley passed by as Malfoy was threatening to beat Harry to pulp. Malfoy bough a stack of Cauldron Cakes and dumped them in Goyle's hands and turned back to Harry.

'You had better pay for those Malfoy, you won't be able to after this,' Harry taunted.

'You think, Potter,' Malfoy said.

'You see, Malfoy, that's the difference between us,' Harry said.

'What is?' Malfoy asked.

'I think,' Harry said simply.

Malfoy getting irritated rushed at Harry trying to beat him. Harry stood his ground and just bent his knees slightly. When Malfoy met him he went flying backward. Kinetic energy is a wonderful thing. Although Harry hardly moved, Malfoy went flying backward when he met Harry's shoulder. Crabbe and Goyle fearfully picked him up paid for their cakes and ran of, happily leaving behind their cakes. Harry's friends were clapping when he re-entered the compartment. They spent the rest of the train ride exchanging chocolate frog cards and exchanging news about the summer vacations. They got off the train in the downpour and rushed for the carriages which would take them to Hogwarts. Harry saw Hagrid calling to the first years, though Harry couldn't hear him over the downpour as the wind carried his words away. Harry got into a thestral drawn carriage with his friends, trying not to get wetter than he already was, though that hardly seemed possible. He removed his shoes and emptied them of the water that they had retained.

The Great Hall was the same as ever. There were candles floating in midair, the enchanted ceiling was reflecting the overcast sky outside, students were fighting for seats. Dumbledore as usual was surveying his students over his half moon glasses with twinkling blue eyes. Harry surveyed the staff table. It was the same as last year except for the absence of that toad who was mistaken to be human. The seat for the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher was empty. Harry wondered where the teacher was and how he or she would be.

Then Professor McGonagall led a long line of nervous first years into the Great Hall. She carried with her a three legged stool and a scroll of parchment. She placed the Sorting Hat on the stool and it burst into song. The song, in meaning, was the same as last year, telling the Hogwarts population to unite, lest all of them fall in division. Then they proceeded with the sorting. Godric kept cheering in Harry's head when a student got sorted into Gryffindor. Then Dumbledore stood up after the sorting was over and silence fell like a wave across the hall, instantaneously. He spread his arms wide and started addressing the students.

'Welcome, welcome to another year at Hogwarts. To my new students welcome and to my old students welcome back. I have many notices to give you but that can wait till after dinner. And now you must be thinking why the old coot repeats himself every year, but, tuck in.'

And he raised his arms in a sweeping gesture and food appeared instantly in the numerous plates on the house tables. Harry filled his plate till it could hold no more and started stuffing himself. He looked around the hall. He saw happy faces all around the hall, the threat of the Dark Lord forgotten in this reunion with their friends. Everyone was eating and laughing.

That is eating and laughing until all the lights in the Great Hall went out at the same time, even the few stars on the ceiling and the doors banged open.

Then, there was utter pandemonium.

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**There's a nice long chapter. I'm asking again please review. There are 52 people who have put this story on their alert list and eleven who have put it on their favorite list and I received TWO reviews for my last chapter. Please review. My idiotic sister deleted the previous story, that is why i had to repost the story again, sorry for the inconvenience.**


	10. Chapter 10

Harry instinctively ducked for cover, under the table and drew his wand from its holster

Harry instinctively ducked for cover, under the table, and drew his wand from its holster. All around him people were screaming, scrambling out of the direct line of fire, hiding under the house tables. Even the teachers were not composed. They were not screaming, but there was a fair amount of scrambling that Harry could hear from that direction. Harry and Dumbledore were the only ones with some semblance of calm. Almost as one they lit their wands with the lumos spell and stood up to face their attacker.

They raised their wands till the green glow reached the doorway. There standing, calmly observing the chaos, easily leaning against the doorframe, was a man. A single man. Attacking Hogwarts. Today, on a day when there were hundreds of witches and wizards gathered in one place. From what Harry could see of him in the dim green light, he was dressed entirely in black. Black robes, black boots and even black hair. The exceptions were his eyes. They were a startling green in color, uncannily resembling Harry's own eyes. The man was not old, probably in his early twenty's. He was a handsome man, except his eyes. They never stayed in one place too long, darting here and there, taking in every detail in one glance, assessing the situation. They were also ice cold, like chips of green ice. They were the eyes of man who had seen and was used to death.

Harry took all of this in, in one glance. He assessed haw dangerous his enemy could be, and didn't like what he derived. He immediately knew something was wrong though. Dumbledore's wand had dropped out of his hand and he was staring in open-mouthed shock at the man in front of him. Harry would have found the situation funny if it hadn't been so serious. He had never seen Dumbledore so shocked. In fact he had never seen Dumbledore shocked.

'You're alive?' Dumbledore asked.

'Apparently,' the stranger said in dry voice.

'How? I don't understand,' Dumbledore said.

'And you hardly will, Albus,' the man said patiently. 'I need a job. And you need a Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. See the connection Albus?'

The man was smirking at Dumbledore's shock. The students, even though Harry could not see them, seemed to have settled, calm now that they knew that they weren't in any immediate danger. Dumbledore finally closed his mouth and motioned the man to come into the room. The man entered, his trunk floating behind him. He walked with a dangerous wolfish grace, squinting at the students.

'Why did you extinguish all the lights?' Dumbledore asked.

'The reaction of the students, I wanted to see how they would react if I was a real Death Eater,' the man said.

'Would you…… well?' Dumbledore said, pointing at the candles and the ceiling.

The man nodded and absently pointed his wand at the ceiling. Even his wand was black. The lights immediately came back on. Every single student and teacher was staring at the strange man as he headed towards the staff table. He sat down in the DADA teachers chair and calmly started eating, staring back at the students and teachers. The talk slowly resumed as the students turned back to their plates, though now it was hushed and in whispers. Harry sat back down, still trying to ponder who this stranger was. He wondered who the stranger was and what caused Dumbledore to be so shocked.

After the plates had been wiped clean by those who could still eat, Dumbledore got up. All traces of his previous shock had vanished. He was once again smiling as he welcomed them all back to Hogwarts and told them about the four hundred and forty two items that Filch had banned that year. He finally got to the new introductions in staff part.

'And now the new introductions in staff. Ahem, as we all know we were once again running short of a Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. I was planning to make some time in my own schedule to teach you all, but Professor Dylan Schofieldhas kindly agreed to take on this job for this year, good luck Professor.'

Professor Schofield acknowledged the nervous applause of the students by nodding his head, his cold green gaze sweeping across the Hall.

'Well as long as he's not a Mudblood, I don't care,' Malfoy said.

Apparently it was loud enough to reach the staff table because Professor Schofield's eyes blazed at the use of the filthy word and he seemed ready to curse Malfoy. Then he smiled, a chilling sort of thing, his eyes going flat. He produced a boat of gravy from nowhere and levitated it all the way to Malfoy. It stopped right above his head and slowly dripped gravy all over his perfect blond hair. The look on Malfoy's face was priceless. He angrily turned to face his attacker, only to find Professor Schofield in an animated conversation with Professor Sprout, talking to her with a perfectly straight face. Somehow all the teachers, except Snape, failed to notice this. Snape, red faced, and for the first time in Harry's experience visibly angry in front of so many people, turned to face Schofield. Schofield met his angry gaze with a perfectly innocent gaze of his own.

'Why Professor, is there something wrong?' he asked in a mockingly concerned voice.

Snape's nostrils were flaring and he turned on his heel, with a swish of his robes and left the staff table, heading towards the Slytherin table. He and Malfoy stalked out of the Great Hall. Schofield's lips formed a smirk and he wasn't the only one laughing. Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling madly and McGonagall's lips were twitching. All the Gryffindor students were laughing madly at the much hated Slytherin student. They looked up at their strange new professor with respect. Maybe he wouldn't be that bad after all. Maybe.

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Harry lay awake that night for a long time. He listened to his friends laughing at Malfoy, and then after they had gone to sleep, he listened to their snores. He thought of his mysterious new teacher. He felt almost as if he should know him. As if he was a long lost friend. He had the same feeling he had had when he first heard the name Tom Marvolo Riddle. The only difference was that he couldn't help trusting his new teacher, though he had no idea why.

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Harry woke late in the night, it was so late that it was early in the morning. The sky was still dark, with a pinkish glow in the east. Harry got up and sat in his bed, totally still, concentrating on everything and nothing. He closed his eyes and was introduced to a whole new world of sensations. He floated around a void inside his mind, emotionless. He could hear every tiny sound, a rat squeaking in a corner, the wind blowing through the trees in the Forbidden Forest. He explored his own mind and put everything into order. Feeling much calmer than he was before practicing his Occlumency, he got out of bed and went for his usual jog around the lake.

At breakfast he was joined by Ron and Hermione, who after a few days of training had given up on it. They were bickering as usual and as usual Harry was ignoring them.

'_True, you should ignore the ignorant,'_ Godric said.

Harry just ignored him and continued picking at his food. He opened his mouth to tell Ron and Hermione to shut up, when someone tapped his shoulder lightly. It was McGonagall.

'Follow me,' she said crisply.

Harry was surprised, but he didn't let it show. He just nodded and followed her, lost in his own thoughts. Only when she stopped, did Harry realize where they were. They were standing outside Dumbledore's office. Apparently the Transfiguration Professor had already given the password as the gargoyle had moved aside and she had already started walking away. Harry stepped onto the revolving staircase and went up to the door leading to Dumbledore's office. He paused a second before knocking. He could hear loud voices from inside, arguing with each other. One was clearly Dumbledore, his voice agitated and the second was calmer, not raised but firm. Harry couldn't catch the words so he knocked and went in. The other voice belonged to Dylan.

He was calmly sitting in an armchair, green eyes staring into the fire. Dumbledore looked anything but calm, his tall hat was forgotten on the floor, his robes were a mess and he looked like he hadn't slept. He motioned Harry to seat himself. Harry just waited politely, waiting for either one of them to say something. Dylan continued to stare into the fire and Dumbledore looked at a loss for words. He truly looked like the old man that he was.

'Ah Harry,' he said. 'This is about the prophecy we discussed about during our last meeting.'

Harry glanced sharply at Dylan. He had not even blinked and was still staring into the fire. Harry was surprised but once again he did not let it show. He just nodded and gestured Professor Dumbledore to continue.

'As you know you have to fight Lord Voldemort, which is no easy task,' Dumbledore continued. 'He is not called the darkest wizard of all time for no reason Harry. It will not be easy facing him or his Death Eaters, especially for three teenage students. He will go to any lengths to kill you and your friends. You need to be prepared to face him and overcome him, and for that Dylan will train you and Mr. Weasly and Miss. Granger. You need to be ready Harry, you need to be ready or you will fail. You need all the training you can get, and Dylan is the perfect man for the job. To make room for your training you will be excused from all your lessons this year, and the next if it is needed.'

Harry was now openly staring at Dumbledore. He was in no way cheering Harry up. Harry had the irrational thought about how Hermione would react to missing all her lessons of the year. In the end he just nodded to Dumbledore.

'And Harry, you will have to quit the Gryffindor Quidditch team, of course, to make room for your training,' Dumbledore added.

Out of all the instructions given to him, the last one was the greatest blow to him and would be a great blow to Ron as well. Harry, having no other choice, just nodded again and turned to leave. Dylan finally looked away from the fire and got up to follow Harry out of the room.

'And Harry good luck,' Dumbledore said, with tears in his eyes.

Harry nodded and walked out of the room, with Dylan in he lead. They retraced Harry's steps to the Great Hall and Dylan stopped there.

'Get your friends and meet me in my office, immediately,' he said, his voice quiet and cold. With that he turned in his heel and headed back up the steps. Harry entered the Great Hall and headed to the Gryffindor table. He tapped Hermione and Ron on the shoulder and told them to come with him. They followed him out of the Great Hall and he stopped there. He pulled them into a corner and told them everything Dumbledore had told him. Surprisingly, Hermione only nodded when Harry told her that she would have to miss all the lessons of the year. Ron grimaced when Harry told him about them missing Quidditch.

'Had to be a price, I guess,' he said.

They walked up to the third floor and went to the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professors office. Harry knocked and was told to enter, in the same cold and emotionless voice Dylan had. They entered the office and were surprised. Harry had entered this same office five times in the past and each time it was different. This time the difference was _very _great. The office was filled with strange objects, reminiscent of Borgin and Burkes. Harry could see that the objects were all dark. There was an evil emanating from deep within them. Harry shuddered at the feeling of dread filling him. There were wands of all sizes and shapes, there were medieval torture implements and weapons of all kinds, swords, axes, aces, spears and weapons Harry could not even recognize. The most surprising object was a blinding light emanating from a long something floating in the middle of the room, in midair. It gave of a pure white light which made the eyes hurt if looked at. It was the only source of light in the room, which meant that the whole room was lit up quite well. Another surprising thing was the magic in the room. It could literally be felt. And Harry was guessing that the magic was centered around that blazing beacon in the middle of the room. The light from the object seemed to neutralize the evil of all the other objects.

'I see that you like my office,' Dylan said, his voice cold. 'They are objects that I picked up on my travels around the world.'

He motioned them to the other side of the office. This area was cleared of any objects. Harry realized that the office had been magically enlarged to make room for all the objects.

'You know why you are here, you know what lies ahead of you. For two of you it is out of friendship, for Harry it is out of need. Harry was born to fight Voldemort. It was decided, long before he was born, in fact long before the world was created. He is destined to do it. The outcome of this battle between the Light and Dark remains undecided and will remain undecided till Harry beats Voldemort or he defeats Harry. Harry will be defeated if he is not prepared, so will you both,' Dylan said, nodding at Ron and Hermione. 'You three will need to function as a unit, if you hope to win. Harry will surely lose without you both.'

He then turned to Harry and continued, 'To win you will have to follow instructions. You will train everyday with me. I vow to teach you everything I can, and everything you are capable of. Ron and Hermione will also train and you will learn to co-ordinate your movements and learn to be a team. This will be the toughest phase of your life, so be prepared. I will be accompanying you on your quest to destroy Voldemort. I know that you are the heir of Gryffindor, don't ask how, but I do know. It was prophesized that the three companions, me, Ron and Hermione, will help you find the secret chamber made by Godric Gryffindor. Apparently, the first step to victory is finding the chamber.'

Harry was shocked, to put it mildly. How could a man who had known Harry for twelve hours, know about his ancestor. Ron and Hermione were staring at Dylan in open mouthed shock. Godric was spluttering inside Harry's head, at a loss for words.

'_It's impossible for him to know,' _Godric said. _'How did he know about the chamber, or about your lineage?'_

'Not impossible at all Godric,' Dylan said calmly, as if Godric was talking in his head and not Harry's. 'I don't think you saw the room properly. Take a look.'

Harry's head moved around the on its own accord. It came to rest, looking at the bright light in the suspended in midair. Harry's eyes widened, even though Harry did not widen them and Godric spoke directly to Dylan, through Harry.

'Its impossible, you're dead,' Godric said, surprise obvious in Harry's voice.

'I'm getting tired of that reaction, you know,' Dylan said. 'You should know by now that impossible means nothing to me.'

Godric just shook Harry's head and faded from his awareness. Harry regained control of his body and felt Gryffindor disappearing from his awareness. Ron and Hermione were speechless with shock. They were staring at Dylan with a new respect blazing in their eyes. Harry was right behind him. Harry now knew why Dumbledore trusted this man. You just couldn't help trusting him.

'We will begin training tomorrow,' Dylan said. 'Sleep while you can, because you don't know when you will be able to next.'

Only one thing bothered Harry, what was the mystery behind this mysterious teacher of his? Who was he?

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**I am very, very sorry for the late update. Please review. **


	11. Chapter 11

Harry sat in bed that night thinking about his new trainer

Harry sat in bed that night thinking about his new trainer. The absence of Ron's customary snores meant that he too was not able to sleep. Harry got out of bed and went to Ron's four-poster bed. Ron was sitting upright in bed and was staring into space. Harry shook Ron by the shoulder and nodded towards the common room. Ron got up and followed Harry to their favorite spot by the fireplace. Surprisingly, Hermione was also sitting there staring into the fire. They took seats on either side of her.

'Couldn't sleep either?' Harry asked her.

Hermione nodded her head mutely and continued staring into the fire. Harry and Ron imitated her for a while and just thought about their new teacher. Harry soon got tired of coming up with no answers at all and made an impatient sound.

'You want to go and visit Hagrid?' Harry asked.

Hermione and Ron both nodded their heads and Harry got up and went to fetch his fathers Invisibility Cloak. They threw it over themselves and exited the Gryffindor common room. Crookshanks tried to follow them on the way out. Hermione picked him up and gently put him back inside and closed the portrait of the Fat Lady. They crept quietly through the deserted corridors. Harry cursed himself mentally, he had forgotten the Marauders Map. They walked out of the open Entrance Hall and down the familiar path to Hagrids hut. They banged on his door. Fang started barking from inside and scratching at the door. The trio waited for Hagrid to open the door, but no one came. They looked quizzically at each other.

'Do you think he's gone somewhere?' Hermione asked, trying to look in at the window. The curtains were drawn.

'Nah, can't be. It's the middle of the night and his lights are on,' Ron said, trying to peer in from the sides of the curtains.

They knocked for quarter of an hour, but to no avail. Then Harry noticed something strange. The grass outside Hagrid's hut was trampled, as if something heavy had been dragged across it. Hermione and Ron noticed the same thing, and the same thought struck each of them at the same time. They started banging frantically at the door.

'Stand back,' Hermione said grimly. She pulled out her wand and pointed it at the lock. _'Alohomora!,' _she muttered. The door opened slowly, to reveal the inside of Hagrid's hut in shambles. There was blood splattered everywhere. The mattress of Hagrid's oversized bed had been torn apart and feathers were lying everywhere, red with blood. His huge cupboard had been reduced to kindling. Hagrid's huge tea-cups and saucers were smashed against the wall. His pink umbrella was torn apart and the ends of his wand were lying on the floor, smoldering. The fireplace had caved in on itself and the floorboards were loose. Fang had been hit over the head with something heavy and he too was bleeding. The light was coming from a small fire burning near the fireplace. Harry realized it was Hagrid's firewood. The walls had been hit with stray curses and there were burn marks all over them. Whatever had happened, Hagrid had put up a hell of a fight. There was a trail of blood leading to the door, as if someone had dragged an unconscious and bleeding Hagrid out of the front door. The trio walked out of the front door and followed the trial of blood and trampled grass to the very edge of the Forbidden Forest.

'Who could do that to a half giant?' Hermione asked nervously.

'It has to be Death Eaters,' Ron said grimly. 'Should we go fetch help?'

'No, it may be too late by then,' Harry said, equally grimly. 'Whatever we do, we do by ourselves, now.'

Ron and Hermione just nodded and tightened their grips on their wands. Harry drew his wand out of his holster. He then drew a deep breath and entered the Forbidden Forest, followed by his two best friends. It was eerily dark and silent in the Forest. The only sources of light were the tips of the trios' wands. They cast dancing green shadows in all the directions and caused Hermione to jump at every few steps. The eerie silence made them start imagining sounds causing them to jump at ever corner. The snap of a twig under Ron's shoe, sounded like a gun going off. They followed the trail till Harry lost all sense of direction and they had no idea whether they were going around in circles or straight through the forest. Then they reached a clearing in the Forest. They could clearly see Hagrid lying in the center of the clearing next to a big bright fire. Encircling Hagrid, was a ring of Death Eaters. They were all holding their wands above their heads, waiting for something. Harry knew what they were doing. They were using Hagrid as bait, trying to lure Harry into a trap. They wanted to capture him. Harry took a deep breath and raised his wand….

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A couple of hours ago Hagrid was sitting in his hut, having his usual cup of tea waiting for Harry, Ron and Hermione's customary visit on their first day back from school. Fang was drooling in his lap when he heard a light knock on the door. Hagrid bounded out of his oversized chair in joy. He opened the door and almost pulled the person outside into a bone crushing hug before he saw who it was. Thirteen Death Eaters, cloaked and hooded, standing outside his door, their wands held in their hands, pointed directly at his chest.

Hagrid took a moment to react. He was half-giant, but thirteen Death Eaters at the same time would be difficult even for him and his tough skin. Fang started growling at the Death Eaters, which brought Hagrid back to his senses. He dived behind the table, just as the first spell passed through the air where he had been standing. He landed with and almighty thump and he grabbed his pink umbrella, with reflexes belying his vast bulky frame. He shot stunner after stunner at the horde of Death Eaters, but it was of no use. There were just too many, and the half-trained Hagrid was no match for them but even then he put up a fight against the Death Eaters.

The Death Eaters were soon sweating from the effort of restraining the giant in Hagrid. He was roaring and going on a rampage, a dangerous thing for them as the hut was not very big. Stray curses bounced of his thick hide, ricocheting of the walls and hitting the crockery in Hagrid's house, creating a huge noise. It was clear that the Death Eaters just wanted to knock out Hagrid and not kill him. Fang tried to bite a Death Eater, only to get himself hit over the head by an invisible something. Fang went down like pile of bricks, a gaping wound in his head.

Hagrid was just buying himself time. He knew that he would not last long against the Death Eaters, so he was trying to take out as many Death Eaters as he could. His pink umbrella had been hit be a curse and it was lying in shambles in a corner. The tale had been overturned by his wild rampage. The mattress of his bed had been torn apart and feathers were thick in the air. The Death Eaters finally realized their mistake. They had to act in unison to overcome Hagrid. The leader of the small band of Death Eaters gave an order of some kind. They raised their wand at the same time. Thirteen Cruciatus curses hit Hagrid from thirteen different directions. Hagrid fell to the floor twitching in pain, his thick skin no use against the thirteen curses of the Death Eaters. Blood began oozing out of his mouth. They finally lifted the curse. But they were not yet done. Invisible whips hit Hagrid all over his body, breaking through his now sensitive skin. Blood was pouring out of his body, reddening the floor and walls. Finally they lifted the curse and hit Hagrid over the head repeatedly till he was knocked out.

Then they dragged him out of the front door. They did not want to attract the attention of the wrong people by using more magic than was necessary. Dumbledore could not find out about this before they were gone…

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Dylan awoke with a start. He had a feeling in his gut that something was wrong. He got out of bed slowly. He was fully dressed. He was always ready for anything. He hoped for the best and planned for the worst. His experiences had taught him to be ready, because if you were not, it led to death and destruction. He crept out of his room into the silent and deserted corridors. It was way past curfew, and surprisingly no one was patrolling the corridors. He walked to the Entrance Hall and he found the doors open. This immediately sounded alarm bells in his brain. He crept out into the cool night air, on silent feet. His experience had taught him to be silent and calm. He could remain calm in the worst of situations. He had learned that it was necessary.

He walked down the pathway to Hagrid's cabin. He tried to remain in the shadows as much as possible but there was no need for it, everything was silent as the grave. He saw the trampled grass outside the cabin. Didn't need to go in, he knew what it meant. He followed the trail into the Forbidden Forest; didn't need any light. He was accustomed to finding his way in the dark, had been trained to do exactly that. He also did not want to attract any attention, especially from whoever had taken away Hagrid. He wanted the element of surprise. He saw the clearing, saw Hagrid, the Death Eaters and the fire. The next thing he saw did not please him at all. Harry, Ron and Hermione were staring at the clearing. The idiots were going to attack the Death Eaters. He could make out from the tension in their shoulders, from their body-language. His feeling was cemented when he heard Harry take a deep breath and raise his wand.

'An unwise thing to do,' Dylan whispered in Harry's ear, causing all three of them to jump. They controlled their surprise well, considering the tension in them, it was surprising that they did not yell. Not surprising to Dylan; very little surprised him anymore.

'Watch and learn,' Dylan whispered. 'Considering the odds, we need the element of surprise. They expect you to come creeping out at them, so what do you do? You do the exact opposite.'

He suddenly stood up, dragging Harry up with him.

'Hello assorted meat-heads,' Dylan shouted.

The Death Eaters turned in unison. Saw Dylan standing there, wandless, unarmed. They were shocked for a moment, which was perhaps the reason for their downfall. They remained stationary for a moment, enough for Dylan to draw his wand. The trio was a split-second behind him. Curses stared flying thickly through the air. The Death Eaters outnumbered them greatly but Dylan evened out the odds. He started shooting curses and hexes at the Death Eaters which Harry could not recognize. Arrows of fire shot out of the tip of his wand, most of them missing their targets in the fray, but causing immense havoc among the Death Eaters. When they did hit, they pierced through the chests and came out from behind. Ground tore open at the Death Eaters' feet, sucking them underneath and burying them alive. Apparently Voldemort wanted an ambush, because more Death Eaters started pouring out of the trees like bees from a disturbed hive.

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Harry came back to his senses after a moment of shock. There were now easily over thirty Death Eaters in the clearing, all desperately trying to attack Dylan. He was jolted back into action when a stunner narrowly missed his head. He raised his wand started firing curse after hex at the Death Eaters. In a few moments he realized that it was of no use. They were hopelessly outnumbered and even Dylan had stopped using his dangerous curses, in fear of hitting Ron, Hermione or Harry. Harry still put up a fight even though he knew tit was hopeless. Then help arrived in the form of Moody, Tonks, Lupin, McGonagall, Snape and Dumbledore. Whoever had tipped them off, their timing was perfect.

The battle was not one-sided anymore. Harry turned to face three Death Eaters all with their wands pointing at him. He raised his own wand and they started exchanging curses. This time, as opposed to Diagon Alley, the Death Eaters used Unforgivable Curses all except the killing curse. Voldemort was getting really desperate in his attempts to capture Harry. He had actually sent Death Eaters into Hogwarts to capture him.

Harry was sweating with the effort of deflecting curses and sending back curses of hi own. It was just too tough, Harry could not manage it; he was continuously moving backwards. He tripped over body lying on the Forest ground and his wand slipped out of his hand and rolled a foot away. He watched in horror as the three Death Eaters smiled and raised their wands pointing directly at him. They opened their mouth to fire something at him….

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Lupin fought through the crowd, once again looking for Harry. He did not stop to engage any Death Eaters in a fight; the others could handle that. He had only one objective- to save the life of his best friends son. He pushed past Death Eaters, stepped over stray bodies that were littering the clearing not bothering to check whether they were friends or foes. He searched frantically, but to no avail. Harry was no where to be seen.

Suddenly a Death Eater stepped out of the fray, directly in Remus' path. Remus raised his wand to fire at him when two more Death Eaters followed their buddy. They all three had their wands pointed directly at Remus' chest. Remus raised his own wand and they started battling. Remus was outnumbered, but he overcame them because of his sheer skill and desire. No one would stop him from helping Harry. Whoever tried would be destroyed by him.

Remus stepped over their bodies and continued his search. Then he stopped dead in his tracks and looked up at the sky. He had not realized before. He had forgotten. There in the vast sky, coming out from behind the shadow of a cloud was the moon. The full moon. Remus felt the changes starting almost immediately. His teeth were lengthening. His spine was lengthening causing him to rip out of his now-small robes. Fur was sprouting out from all over his body. Worst of all, he felt the wolf taking over his mind. He didn't try to fight it. He had tried in the past and had failed every time. He could feel the thirst for blood. He liked attacking the neck. He liked feeling the blood flow; he liked feeling the prey struggle. He was not satisfied with biting the prey, he wanted to kill it.

Remus felt all this, a lone prisoner in his own mind. He had no control over himself. The wolf was the dominator. The wolf raised its head to the moon and a howled, a blood curdling sound. Then it bounded of in the direction of the blood…

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Tonks heard the howl and turned instinctively towards the sound. Didn't bother looking up at the sky; she knew what the howl meant. She knew she should be running away from Remus but she did not she ran towards him, as if she could help him somehow if she was there with him. She pushed past the battling Death Eaters and Order members. Then she saw him, bounding madly through the fray, unsure of which direction to go, confused by the scent of blood from all over the clearing. Then he saw her. She knew he had no control over himself, she knew he would attack her.

He bounded towards her; she was frozen with fear. He was halfway towards her. She moved backwards; tripped over a body. He was upon her now. She could feel the wolfs hot breath on her face. She closed her eyes; changed her hair to pink. Remus liked her hair pink, he said it suited her. The wolfs teeth pierced the soft skin of her neck. She could feel the warm blood flowing. A horrifying scream erupted from her mouth. The last thing she heard before dying was a spine-tingling howl.

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Ron and Hermione were battling for their lives, side by side, dueling three Death Eaters at the same time. They were back to back, Ron fighting two Death Eaters, Hermione fighting a hideously huge monster of a man who seemed to have no brains at all. They both made a good team. Ron was much better at fighting for his life than at his lessons. Hermione was struggling to fight that on e Death Eater. They were both struggling from the effort of staying alive.

Ron was shooting stunner after stunner at his two Death Eaters, but they sidestepped them with ease. They were using everything from Unforgivable curses to stunners. Their skill was far greater than his, but he was still alive… for the moment. Then he tripped and fell. His wand rolled away, he instinctively raised his hands to protect his face. The Death Eaters were smiling now. Then they weren't smiling; they were not there any more. They were under eleven feet of soil, suffocating to death. Ron looked up and saw Dylan standing there pointing his wand at where the Death Eaters had been standing. He picked up Ron's wand and tossed it to him.

They both turned to face Hermione, who was still struggling with her Death Eater. Dylan lifted his right hand and pointed his finger at the Death Eater. The Death Eater went rigid. No, he was standing at attention.

'You will fight against the rest of the Death Eaters and then kill yourself,' Dylan ordered coldly.

Then he turned to face Ron and Hermione.

'Works on the weak minded,' he said casually as if ordering someone to kill themselves was something he did everyday. Perhaps it was.

Ron and Hermione just stared at him. He continued to amaze them.

All around them the fight was dying down. The Death Eaters were pulling portkeys out of their robes and disappearing. They had suffered great losses that day fighting. Even the small Hogwarts army had suffered losses. They could see that. McGonagall was being healed by Dumbledore, Moody had lost his wooden leg and was lying in the grass, bleeding from numerous places. Snape had a broken nose and a swollen eye and he was walking with a limp. Small fights were still going on here and there. Apparently, during the fight they had been joined by more and more Order members. Everyone was sporting injuries, that is everyone except Dylan. He looked as if he had had a walk in the park.

'Where's Harry?' Dylan asked suddenly.

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Harry watched in horror as the three Death Eaters opened their mouths to fire something at him…. A second before a huge wolf pounced at them and started ravaging them to pieces. Harry recognized the wolf; he had seen it three years ago. It was Remus. Harry scrambled towards his wand; he knew he would need it before long. The wolf finished laying waste upon the three Death Eaters and turned to face Harry. Harry knew Remus had no control over himself and was going to attack him. Harry got to his feet and pointed his wand at the wolf. His hand was wavering; he did not want to hurt Remus. Not that he could do much damage.

The wolf bounded towards him only to stop dead in its tracks. There was some kind of a shield surrounding Harry. It was glowing silver. Whatever it was Harry knew he was doing it. The wolf was shying away from the silver shield. There was a sudden burst of bright silver light from the shield which hit Remus. The wolf let out a howl and bounded away into the forest.

The shield dissipated into nothingness and Harry was left standing in a clearing devoid of any enemies or wolves. He could make out Order members in the clearing. Bodies littered the entire clearing. Hagrid was still lying in the center, unaffected by the fight. There was the smell of blood in the clearing. Even though it seemed like ages the entire fight had lasted only half an hour from beginning to end.

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_**I know its not as good as the battle in Diagon Alley, but still it isn't all that bad. Come on people REVIEW!!**_


	12. Chapter 12

That night saw Madam Pomfrey's hospital wing crowded till there was no room. The small room had never meant to hold that many; after all how many students could be injured at the same time? Today the injuries were not those of a charm gone wrong or a broomstick accident. Today the injuries were the result of the fight against the Death Eaters. Albeit most of the injuries were trivial and would heal if left alone, Dumbledore insisted that everyone involved in the fight go to the hospital wing. Some injuries were more serious than others. Alastor Moody lay in a bleeding heap in a bed. Madam Pomfrey had stopped his bleeding but did not have time to heal him completely. Snape was busy brewing Potions for the nurse.

Harry watched all this from the doorway of the hospital wing. With him stood his two friends. All three of them had been deemed livable by the overworked nurse who had mended their injuries. Behind them stood Dylan who appeared to be deep in thought. His brow was furrowed as he observed the bustle around him. Harry himself was lost in thought. Hermione was crying. Ron looked like he wanted nothing more than to cry himself. Harry was trying to stop the bile from rising in his throat. They had seen the bloody remains of Tonks in the clearing. They didn't need to think twice to guess who could have done it.

'You know this is what it was like the last time,' Dylan said. 'Now you know what to expect.'

'Is that all you can think of?' Harry asked, suddenly angry.

'More or less, yes,' Dylan admitted.

'Didn't you see what happened to Tonks?' Harry asked, his voice rising.

'Does it bother you that much?' Dylan asked, suddenly surprised.

'She was my friend,' Harry said. 'Remus is my friend. Do you know what will happen to him once he finds out how she died?'

'Well then don't tell him. He won't remember who he killed once he changes back,' Dylan said.

Then he walked out of the hospital wing leaving three baffled young people his trail. Harry just returned to staring in space. The hustle and bustle continued all around them. The school slept on unaware to the misery in Harry's mind. The last thing that he wanted at the moment was to lose the last of the true Marauders. He was quite sure he would lose Remus.

Nearly half an hour later the scene had hardly changed, except that now the patients had been taken out of any immediate danger. Then Dylan walked in carrying something in his arms. It was the un-mutilated body of Tonks. There was not as much as a scar on her body. Her clothes were no more torn. Her face was pale in death. For an irrational moment Harry thought somehow that she had been resurrected. Then he saw Dylan shake his head gravely. He seemed to have read Harry's thoughts. He lay the body down on an empty bed, which seemed to appear out of nowhere.

'She was hit by the killing curse,' Dylan said. 'Tell Remus that.'

And then he left, leaving the people staring after him in amazement. He seemed to be drooping with exhaustion as he left the hospital wing.

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Harry slept fitfully that night, his sleep troubled by nightmares of the events that had taken place that night. With a jolt he had realized that Dylan was right; he had to get used to these horrors. This was the way his life was going to be right up to the moment in which he would face Voldemort. The moment in which he would either kill or be killed. He knew he was being childish, feeling sorry for himself. But then he had reason enough.

The whole sense of inactivity galled. They were hardly taking any steps against Voldemort. The slow pace of all this was the one thing he couldn't bear.

'_Feeling cranky, are we?'_ Gryffindor asked slyly.

'_We aren't even doing anything,' _Harry burst out.

'_Waiting is the greatest part of war. What did you expect a nice little fight which could be wrapped up before Christmas? You may not like it but this is what you were born to do. Like it or not you will have to wait for the right time for the meeting to take place.'_

'_When will the meeting take place?' _Harry asked curiously.

'_At the right time.'_ And then the awareness of Gryffindor vanished.

Harry punched his pillow and went back to trying to sleep.

His dreams were troubled once again. His dreams these days were unlike any others. He seemed to be diving deep into some kind of water body. Something or someone was calling to him from the depths. There was a deep longing in his heart to go to the voice. Just as Harry got close to the voice he woke up, his hand stretched longingly towards the ceiling. His dreams were not unlike the dreams he used to have about the Department of Mysteries. He couldn't shake of the feeling that there was something he had to do before he met Voldemort.

'_The time approaches for you to unlock your destiny. Go now to the library. Find the book. Go forth now and unlock your destiny.' _It was not the voice Harry was accustomed to. It was guttural and deep. It was the voice of someone other than Gryffindor.

Harry knew right away that he did not have any choice in this matter. He had to obey that voice. The whole universe obeyed it. He got out of his bed. The others in the dormitory continued to snore. Except Ron. He seemed to have got up and he too was heading towards the common room.

'Did you hear it too?' Harry asked quietly.

'Yes. Did you feel the power it possessed?' Ron's voice was awed.

Quite unsurprisingly they found Hermione heading down the stairs of the girls dormitory. Her eyes were wide and she moved in a trance like state. Their way to the library was not obstructed. There were no Prefects or teachers patrolling the corridor leading to the library. The library door was open. Outside the door, leaning against the wall with his eyes closed, stood Dylan. There were dark shadows under his eyelids and his shoulders had a weary slump to them. He seemed to have heard them coming so he said without opening his eyes.

'The timing of these great events, sometimes, is very inconvenient.'

'Did you hear the voice too?' Hermione asked eying the door to the library.

Dylan just nodded and moved tiredly toward the door. They moved inside and closed the door behind themselves.

'Where do we start looking?' Hermione asked.

'The voice said that we had to look for the book,' Dylan said thoughtfully. 'But as far as I know there is not any book related to only one founder. So I guess we will have to look through the books till we find it.'

Harry had once before searched for a book in the library that he knew nothing about. The results were not very good. They spread out to search. Running a finger over the spine of each book as he browsed through them he grew increasingly frustrated by the lack of success. Thirty minutes later he was sweating. An hour later he was cursing. An hour and a half later he kicked an unoffending chairs leg, and then he sat in it. Of course it had to give underneath him. He fell among the remaining pieces of wood and stood up.

Dylan looked away from his shelf. 'This is not working; we have to think it through before we search for one book among ten thousand.'

They went over to sit at a table. They thought silently for a while. Then Dylan's eyes brightened.

'The voice told us to help Harry find _the _book,' he said slowly. 'So it has to be a book which is very common which Harry can find easily. The only book I know of that has the most copies is Hogwarts A History.' They all finished at the same time.

'Find it,' Dylan told them.

There was no need to do that. Hermione was already running away from the table and she returned a moment later with the large leather-bound book in her hands.

'This copy has quite a few mistakes in it,' she apologized.

'That's quite all right,' Dylan muttered, taking the heavy books from her hands. 'Though I think we will need to find all the mistakes. I believe this was the only copy of the book available?'

Hermione nodded and said, 'I had made a list of the mistakes in the book. I wanted to show it to Madam Pince but she told me not to interfere with her library.'

Her grimace indicated what she thought of that.

'Get me that list,' Dylan said. 'Hurry.'

Looking confused she ran out of the library.

'Who makes a list of the mistakes in the books?' Ron asked incredulously.

'Be glad that she did or we would have to look through the whole book looking for something unusual,' Dylan said, his voice tired.

'By the way when does our training begin?' Harry asked.

'When I'm strong enough to move without being forced to,' Dylan replied, massaging his temples.

'What happened?' Harry asked. 'You were fine after the fight.'

Harry was surprised that the fight had been less than four hours ago. It seemed like ages.

'Yes, but what I did to this Tonks of yours took a lot of energy,' Dylan said. 'What I did was basically weave an illusion around her. It's more substantial than an illusion, but basically the same thing.'

'Everyone thought that you were dead. Why is that?' Harry asked.

Surprisingly, a grin broke out on his tired face. Even his cold green eyes became a little less cold.

'You would not understand if I told you,' he said.

Then they heard Hermione running into the library. In her hand she clutched a yellowing piece of paper.

'I got it,' she panted.

'Excellent,' Dylan said, taking the parchment from her hand.

He began reading it carefully, muttering under his breath and sometimes referring to the book in front of him. His brow was furrowed and he kept shaking his head in frustration.

'It doesn't make any sense,' he said. 'But then if it did the whole point of it would be lost. These are the words in which there are mistakes. The history seems to be all wrong in this book.'

He handed the parchment to Harry who started reading aloud.

'_At hiding Slytherin was good, Gryffindor was the best._

_Remember Heir, you have already passed this test._

_Remember it was by the wizard that the wand was made,_

_For the time shall come, when a price must be paid._

_Remember Heir that you might be the strongest, but can it be so?_

_No, I say, no it can't, for what's in a fight if you are stronger than your foe?_

_The time will come when you must choose between death and glory,_

_Choose carefully; choose wisely, for what you choose might make you sorry._

_It's never over until it's over, as you will see,_

_But will you function as you must when four become three?'_

Harry felt dread boiling like acid in his stomach. Unattached phrases jumped out at him. _When four become three…price must be paid…will make you sorry…_

His friends were staring at him in openmouthed shock. Dylan looked troubled.

'It makes some sense but most of it is gibberish,' Dylan said.

'I'm going to lose, doesn't it mean that?' Harry asked numbly.

'It can't, nobody, nothing knows what will happen when you meet Voldemort. Believe me, Voldemort must be as scared as you are,' he replied. 'The first part is relatively simple; it's indicating where Gryffindor hid chamber. All we need to do is to work out the riddle.'

'It didn't read that way when I gave you the parchment,' Hermione said.

'I arranged it in what has to be the right order,' Dylan said. 'Apparently the Prophecy is poetic.'

'What test is it talking about?' Harry asked.

'How am I to know?' Dylan said. 'It should be you who knows.'

'I think we should go,' Ron said. 'The sun is rising.'

They towards a window and saw a red glow.

'It's not the sun,' Dylan said. 'It's a fire. Go back to your common room and stay there.'

He ran out of the library, drawing his wand. The trio looked at each other. Then Harry shrugged and pulled out his Invisibility Cloak. They hurriedly threw it over themselves and followed Dylan out of the library at a fast walk. They saw him turning a corner and followed him after a few seconds. They almost bumped into him. He was standing there, casually leaning against the wall. He reached towards the Cloak and pulled it of them.

'I thought I told you to go back,' he said. 'But very well if you must.'

He tossed the Cloak back to Harry and motioned them to follow him. They went through corridor after corridor, until they reached the stone gargoyle guarding Dumbledore's office.

'Open up,' Dylan commanded curtly.

Quite surprisingly the gargoyle moved aside and let them in. While passing through Harry heard it mutter, 'He shouldn't give you so much authority.' They followed the spiral staircase upwards and Dylan knocked on the door. They heard the customary 'come in' and they went in.

'There was an attack on Hogsmeade,' Dylan announced. 'The Death Eaters apparated out after causing some havoc.'

Dumbledore nodded and told all of them to sit down. He as usual offered them a lemon-drop. After the trio declined and Dylan glared at him, Dumbledore took one and put the box away.

'Aren't you going to do anything?' Ron demanded.

'No,' Dylan said. 'It's a test to see what we will do. Voldemort is getting stronger, but he is not yet strong enough to afford two attacks in one night. If we go out to help the people, he'll do the same thing next time, and when we go he will be waiting for us.'

'So we are going to let those people help themselves, instead of offering any aid?' Hermione asked shocked.

'This is what I meant when I said that you have to be ready,' Dylan said grimly. 'It's every man for himself.'

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**Sorry for the late update. PLEASE REVIEW!! IT CANT TAKE THAT MUCH TIME TO TYPE A SENTENCE.**


	13. Chapter 13

Harry tried to catch up on his sleep during what remained of the night

Harry tried to catch up on his sleep during what remained of the night. He fell asleep in an armchair by the fire, exhausted after the night's ordeal. He seemed to wake up as soon as he fell asleep. The fire had gone out and there was a figure silhouetted against the window. It was tall and thin, its skin seemed to be pale. The reason that Harry groped for his wand was that the figure had red eyes. Voldemort.

'It's a dream,' Harry said to the figure. 'You can't really be here.'

'Can't I?' Voldemort said in his soft cruel voice. 'The old man and his wards are weakening, soon I will be able to attack Hogwarts and kill that Muggle-loving fool, Dumbledore. He shall die, and along with him shall die all hope. I shall squash all of you.'

'You can't be here,' Harry said, his wand wavering as he pointed it at Voldemort.

'There is only way to stop it, Harry,' Voldemort said, his eyes glowing. 'You were born to serve me. Serve me and we shall rule the world together.'

'I deny you,' Harry said defiantly, his voice steadying. 'You can't harm me here. I am the Heir of Gryffindor and I was born to fight you. Get ready, Voldemort I am going to kill you.'

'Don't be a fool, Harry,' Voldemort said. 'Join me and I can spare you and your friends.'

Harry felt the first seeds of doubt. None of them would have to die. He would not have to face Voldemort. All he had to do was say 'yes'.

'NO!' Harry shouted. 'You will kill me and them and I will not let that happen.'

'Stupefy!' Harry roared.

Laughing his enemy disappeared and the curse hit a table which burst into flame.

With a jolt Harry sat upright, still in his armchair, his wand in his hand. First he thought that it had been a dream. Then he saw the ruins of a table, smoldering as if they had been hit by a powerful curse.

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Thousands of miles away Voldemort sat back in his seat. His Death Eaters stood in a ragged circle around his throne. The Death Eaters left gaps in the circle. The numbers of Voldemort's inner circle had been greatly reduced by the battles in Diagon Alley and Hogwarts. They stood there in fearful servitude, waiting for orders from their master. He absently stroked his pet snake, hissing at it.

'Severus, come here,' Voldemort said in a silky smooth voice. 'The rest of you go away. Leave this building.'

One Death Eater newly recruited into the Inner Circle, foolishly opened his. 'Master maybe one of us should…'

Voldemort almost absently raised his wand and tortured him with the Cruciatus curse. The others fearfully dragged him out of the room.

'Severus, come here,' Voldemort ordered. 'The boy is getting stronger Severus. How is it that I was not told that he is being trained by the new teacher?'

'Master I was going to…' Snape said.

'Or is it that your loyalty is decreasing day by day?'

'Master, never!'

'Nagini tells me that she senses that you have been around the old fool, more than is necessary between you both.'

'Master, I would never betray your trust in me,' Snape said, fear being covered by false indignation.

'But you already have, Severus,' Voldemort said.

With that he raised his wand and pointed it at Snape.

'_Crucio!' _

Snape fell to the ground, writhing in agony. One thought dominated his mind - he would not die cowering in fear. Voldemort's seemingly unstoppable fury met Snape's seemingly unmovable will. For an hour Snape writhed on the floor, his mind slowly going over the edge. He succumbed to it finally. He lay motionless on the floor.

'Nagini, dinner.'

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Harry staggered out of the Common Room later in the morning. He went down to breakfast. The owls were just coming in. An unknown black owl, with a parcel tied to its leg and a letter in its mouth landed in front of him. Harry tried to take the letter but it refused. It flew out into the empty Entrance Hall. Harry followed it and took the letter and parcel from it. It flew away immediately.

He opened the letter first.

_Consider this a late birthday present from me._

It was unsigned. Harry opened the parcel. He immediately staggered away from it, last nights dinner and today's breakfast coming back up. In the parcel was the horribly mutilated head of Severus Snape. His greasy hair was scattered and his eyes, glazed with death, stared unseeingly at the ceiling. There was another parchment lying on his mouth. Harry picked it up with a trembling hand and read it.

_You will be pleased to know that he died bravely. He even bit of my Nagini's head before I came back and killed him._

And indeed in his mouth was the severed head of a snake, which Harry recognized as Nagini's.

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Harry ran as fast as he could. He held the box at an arms length and ran. From inside the box came the sickening rattle of the head as it bounced around. He continued to retch as he ran; the corridors were thankfully empty. He came to the familiar stone gargoyle and told it to open. Surprisingly it did without any hesitation.

He ran up the slowly rotating staircase, and ran through the door without bothering to knock. Dumbledore, as usual, sat behind his desk appearing deep in thought. He looked up when Harry barged into his room.

'Sir, its Snape!' Harry said urgently. He laid the box in front of him. Dumbledore opened the box. His eyes widened in shock at first and then a deep sadness entered them as he slowly got up and went to the fireplace. He took a pinch of Floo powder and threw it into the fire.

'Dylan, I need you,' he said, his voice grave.

A moment later Dylan stepped out of the fireplace and looked questioningly at Dumbledore. Dumbledore just nodded toward the box. Dylan opened the box and observed the head inside. He closed the box, the expression on his face unchanged.

'Start training them immediately,' Dumbledore ordered. 'We have very little time.'

Dylan nodded and marched out of the office, motioning Harry to join him. Harry hurried after him a thousand questions going through his mind. They headed toward the Great Hall.

'Get your friends and meet me in my office,' Dylan said.

Harry hurried into the Great Hall and told Ron and Hermione to follow him. On the way to the office, he told them all about Snape. After he had finished telling them about it, Hermione had a hand covering her mouth and Ron was slightly green.

'We're supposed to start our training with Dylan today,' Harry said.

They hurried through the door on the third floor. They were surprised to find the office empty. The only thing left in the room was a trunk, lying in the center and Dylan himself, waiting for them.

'Good you three are here,' he said. 'Once you get out of this office, pack up everything important and keep it ready.'

'Why?'

'Don't argue! Just do it.'

'Potter, you have to find the chamber of Gryffindor, so solve the clues fast. You two, go pack your bags.'

Ron and Hermione hurried out of the room. Harry took out the parchment with the prophecy written on it and tried to solve it. He read it again.

The first two lines seemed to be the only ones referring to the location of the chamber.

'_Godric, why can't you tell me where the chamber is?'_

'_I already have.' _Was all he was told.

After that Harry had to try on his own. He mulled over the first two lines. What test had he passed? Well there were the exams… seemed unlikely. Homework assignments… couldn't be. He stared out of the window his thoughts wandering.

'What happened to Remus?' he asked suddenly.

'We told him she had been hit with the Avada Kedavra. He went off down to Hogsmeade after that and didn't come back,' Dylan said. 'He seemed to handle it pretty well.'

'Did he say anything?'

'No.'

Harry continued staring out of the window; he stared at the lake… The lake! The Tri-Wizard Tournament! The dreams he had all the time.

'It's in the lake.'

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Ten minutes later Harry along with Ron, Hermione and Dylan were standing and staring at the lake.

'Well what you waiting for?' Dylan said.

He performed the bubblehead charm on himself and dived into the water. By now, they had learnt the charm and after performing it on themselves they followed him.

The water was cold. Very cold. The underwater world was eerily silent, blocking out all sound. They followed Dylan deeper into the lake. Half an hour later they reached the bottom. Schools of fish swam past them. The entire bottom was covered with weeds. They swam onward, towards the center of the lake. Soon they came into the underwater dwelling of the merpeople. Just as two years ago they had come to stare at Harry, they stared at the four of them. Luckily, they didn't try to stop them.

Soon Harry started to feel that something was wrong. They had not met even one Grindylow on their journey. The interfering merpeople had not even tried to stop them.

_They're scared of something. _It was Dylan's voice in his head. Judging by the start that Hermione and Ron gave, they could hear him too.

_Something is not right. I can feel it._

They could feel it too. Whatever it was, it was not supposed to be there. Harry sensed movement behind him and turned. What he saw made his jaw drop. Behind him stood a serpent. Not any serpent. He had heard of it, but had never believed that it was real. It had nine heads. The Hydra.

**For those who might not know what the Hydra is, it's a nine headed serpent. Whenever one of its heads was cut of off, a new one grew in its place. It was killed by Hercules as one of his twelve tasks. The myth says that it guarded the entrance to the 'Underworld'. Nine is the number of heads that is generally accepted as standard. Here of course, it is guarding the entrance to the Gryffindor Chamber. If Slytherin could have a Basilisk, then Gryffindor can have a Hydra.**

**I originally wanted the chapter to be longer, but have decided to end it here. Sorry for the late update, will make the next one sooner, probably sometime next week. I also discovered a glaring mistake, way back in the first chapter. In Order of the Phoenix, Petunia and Dudley were with Vernon at Kings Cross. In my first chapter Dudley and Petunia are at home, so sorry about that.  
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